(CNN) It's a midlife crisis of a different sort: "Deaths of despair" -- due to drugs, alcohol and suicide -- are largely responsible for rising mortality rates among middle-age white Americans. These factors may include a shortage of steady jobs for people without a college degree. In 1999, the mortality rate of middle-age white Americans without a college degree was 30% lower than that of all black Americans regardless of degree status. When comparing only those without a college degree, death rates for middle-age white and black Americans' have converged. Overall, white Americans still live longer on average than black Americans.

Source: CNN March 23, 2017 23:15 UTC