A UCLA-led group of researchers tracing disparities in life expectancy between blacks and whites in the United States has found that white males live about seven years longer on average than African American men and that white women live more than five years longer than their black counterparts

But when comparing life expectancy on a state-by-state basis, the researchers made a surprising discovery: In those states in which the disparities were smallest, the differences often were not the result of African Americans living longer but of whites dying younger than the national average. And, interestingly, the area with the largest disparities wasn't a state at all but the nation's capital, Washington D.C. Overall, the national life expectancy was 74.79 years for white men and 67.66 years for black men. Among women, the average life span was 79.84 years for whites and 74.64 for blacks. In every state, gaps were narrower between women than men. New Mexico had the smallest disparities between blacks and whites (3.76 years for men and 2.45 years for women), while the District of Columbia had the largest (13.77 years for men and 8.55 years for women). In addition to Washington, D.C., the states with the largest disparities between white and black men were New Jersey, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois; in these states, the gap was greater than eight years because African American men's lives were shorter than the national average for black men and white men's life spans were equal to or greater than the national average. For women, the states with the largest disparities in longevity were Illinois, Rhode Island, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Florida and Nebraska, where the difference between black and white women was more than six years. White women in these states lived longer than average, while black women had average or lower life expectancy. In addition to New Mexico, which had the smallest disparities, eight other states had black-white disparities of less than six years among men: Kentucky, West Virginia, Nevada, Oklahoma, Washington, Colorado, New York and Arizona. In four of these states - Kentucky, West Virginia, Nevada and Oklahoma - the smaller disparities were due to a combination of African American men living longer than the national average and whites having shorter lives. But in New Mexico, Washington, Colorado, New York and Arizona, both black and white men lived longer than average, with black men having life spans that were particularly longer than the national average. Among women, the states with the smallest differences were New Mexico, New York, West Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama -- each with disparities of less than four years. These smaller disparities were the result of black women being longer-lived than average and whites being shorter-lived. Fifty-eight percent of African Americans live in 10 states: New York, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland, Missouri and Louisiana.