The Health Department has recently compiled mountains of data into a new study forming health profiles for each neighborhood in New York City. 

Countless variables were considered, from life expectancy, school attendance, frequency of physical activity, how many vegetables you eat, if you smoke, and how many square feet of grocery store space there is on average in the neighborhood.

Of course when you look at all the bits of data in the context of all the other bits of data, new connections can be drawn, and the contexts in which we see our living space and how it affects our lives can change or grow.

The new neighborhood profiles also include environmental information too, like air quality. Apparently the best air to breath in the city is out at Breezy Point and the Rockaways. 

The worst? Midtown. Duh. As if we didn't already know. 

[anad]

So what's the big deal? Apparently, all of the information collected suggests that where you live in the City has an effect on your life expectancy, and it doesn't seem far-fetched. 

While unveiling the new profiles, Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said, "This is unfair and avoidable. A person's health should not be determined by his or her zip code."

We don't really know if Bassett's on point with her observation there. To us, it seems many of the variables at play in the neighborhood health profiles boil down to a simple matter of poverty.

It's a fact that many people in less affluent neighborhoods-- not just in New York City, but across the entire planet --are generally bereft of the goods and services they require mainly because there isn't the money for them. 

via NY Post

Businesses aren't inclined to open somewhere if people can't afford what they're selling. It's not the neighborhood's fault for not providing this or that, and it must be taken into consideration that nothing just appears out of the blue. 

You may remember we brought you the story of Jadakiss and Styles P opening up green juice bars in lower income neighborhoods that don't have a good amount of readily available produce for people to buy. Their motivation was not only to help people eat healthier, but also to understand why they should.

Now, these new neighborhood profiles show that school absenteeism is high in the same neighborhoods with lowest life expectancies, suggestively due to the lack of... uh, everything you need to be healthy, from clean air to food with at sensible nutritional value.

Is it really any surprise that if you don't go to school, you won't learn about nutrition, like in science class, and you're more likely to feed yourself garbage and die young? Nope.

Check out No Matter How Many Skyscrapers NYC Builds, We’ll Never Replace Our Twin Towers. 

[via New York Post]

[Feature Image Courtesy Time]