Lucky we live, and healthfully, in Hawaii

We’ve heard it a million times, and now let’s hear it again: Lucky we live Hawaii.

Yes, it costs a bundle to live here and the business climate is awful and so on and so on, but yet another health report has confirmed that residents here are among the healthiest in the nation, and as they say, if you don’t have your health, you ain’t got nothing.

The new study by the federal Centers for Disease Control showed Hawaii topping the charts in terms of not only how long people live but also how healthy they are in their final few years. People here who are already 65 years old can expect to live, on average, about 21 more years, and mostly in good health until just the last five or so. Mississipians fared the worst, with only about 171⁄2 years remaining after age 65 and most of the last seven in poorer health.

Of course, it helps to be Japanese or Chinese, who tend to live the longest among ethnic groups no matter where they live, and thus skew any cosmopolitan average upward. But, still, it’s good to be No. 1 in something, and to be able to live healthfully to enjoy it.