Study: Macon residents have shortest life expectancy in Georgia

A Delaware-based financial news service released a study Thursday concluding that Macon residents have the shortest life expectancy of any city in Georgia.

"Macon residents have an average life expectancy of 74.9 years (vs. 77.4 years statewide — 10th lowest), a median household income of $39,501 and 31.5% of the population suffers from obesity," according to the study released by 24/7 Wall St., a financial news and opinion company that delivers Internet content.

24/7 Wall St.'s report detailed its findings in its latest article "Cities with the Shortest Life Expectancy in Every State."

Click here to see the full list

"The cities on this list tend to have lower household incomes and a larger share of residents living in poverty than metro areas with longer life expectancies," the report states. "Another common trend among the cities with the shortest life expectancy in their state is the tendency to report less healthy behaviors than among cities with longer life expectancies. In cities with shorter life expectancies, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits contribute to higher obesity rates. As an area’s obesity rate increases, the risk of life-shortening diseases also increases. Obesity rates in the majority of cities with the shortest life expectancy in their state are higher than the nationwide obesity rate. Smoking rates in these cities are also nearly always higher than the respective statewide rates," the report states.