THE LEDGER-STAR  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995               TAG: 9502030703
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                    LENGTH: Short :   49 lines

VA. WHITES OUTLIVING OTHER GROUPS WHEN WE DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF INCOME AND POVERTY, THE QUESTION OF HEALTH WOULD PROBABLY RESOLVE ITSELF SOONER OR LATER, A RESEARCHER SAYS.

Virginia's whites live an average of five years longer than nonwhites, according to a new University of Virginia study.

``The overall health of both blacks and whites has been improving over the last 30 years, but despite that fact, for most health indicators there is still a significant gap between nonwhites and whites,'' said the study's author, Paul Puryear, senior research fellow at U.Va.'s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

The census figures he used in the study include Hispanics and other minorities in the nonwhite statistics, but blacks are by far the largest group in Virginia's minority population.

``Health is very closely tied with socioeconomic status,'' Puryear said. ``A substantial percentage'' of Virginia's blacks and Hispanics ``live at the poverty level or below,'' even when employed, he said.

``If we could ever deal with the problem of income and poverty, the question of health status would probably resolve itself sooner or later.''

Among his findings:

-The nonwhite infant mortality rate declined from 45 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1960 to 17.5 per 1,000 in 1990. But the white infant mortality rate declined from 24.6 in 1960 to 7.4 in 1990.

-Nonwhite female life expectancy increased from 65.1 years for those born in 1959-61 to 75.68 years for those born in 1990. But white female life expectancy increased from 74.4 in 1959-61 to 79.48 in 1990. Nonwhite male life expectancy rose from 60.2 years in 1959-61 to 67.23 in 1990. But white male life expectancy grew from 67.2 years in 1959-61 to 73.03 in 1990.

-The homicide rate for nonwhites averaged 24.6 deaths per 100,000 population between 1960 and 1990, compared with an average of 4.8 for whites.

-Although blacks make up 18.8 percent of the state's population, they account for 38 percent of all AIDS cases.

``My aim was to lay out the facts, to say this is where we started in 1960, this is where we are in 1990, and this is how far we may have to go to create something like equality among whites and nonwhites,'' Puryear said.

KEYWORDS: STATISTICS LONGEVITY by CNB