© 2026
In touch with the world ... at home on the High Plains
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
96.3 FM near St. Francis in northwest Kansas is off air due to technical difficulties. You can always listen to HPPR in the player above or on the HPPR APP.

White Working-Class Mortality Rates Rising

Creative Commons

Researchers at Princeton University have discovered a disturbing trend. This century is witnessing an increase in mortality of middle-aged white men and women, according to The Center for Rural Affairs. The news comes after decades of progress in white mortality rates. And it brings up very real concerns about the quality of life for low-income residents in rural America.

Whites are the only race in the U.S. to show an increase in mortality since 1970.  And no other developed country showed an increase for middle-aged white men and women over this period.

This has real consequences, notes the Center for Rural Affairs. “Each untimely death results in a family without a mother, a company without a worker, and a community without a leader.” Solutions to the problem include boosting education levels and creating genuine opportunity in the heartland.