American life expectancy has crashed to its lowest level since 1996: Here’s how long YOU can expect to live based on your current age
Life expectancy in the US has fallen to the lowest level since 1996, official data shows.
According to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report released this week, the average American born in 2021 can be expected to live to be 76.4 years old.
For comparison, the average child born in 2014 would live to be 78.9 years old and in 2019 78.8.
It is the second consecutive year that life expectancy has fallen in the US, after falling to 77.0 years in 2020. Life expectancy is now at its lowest level since 1996, when it was 76.1 years. Before 2019, life expectancy was increasing.
Covid-19 was the main driving force behind the plunge, the CDC reported.
In 2021, the virus was the third leading cause of death in the country, after heart disease and cancer – which still top the list as the most common causes of death.
Rising suicides and homicides, plus a fivefold increase in overdose deaths over the past decade — fueled by a rise in fentanyl contamination — have also contributed to the decline.
The CDC used the National Center for Health Statistics life tables to calculate life expectancy.
Life tables show how many years someone is expected to live, depending on the year in which he or she was born.
These are hypothetical calculations, based on mid-year population estimates and the number of people who died each year.
For example, the table estimates that the average 100-year-old will live another one to two years, based on the fact that he or she has already reached 100.
The decline in life expectancy today is not as severe as during the pandemic, but the numbers are still declining.
According to the CDC report, men saw the biggest decline in life expectancy, losing eight months of their lifespan between 2020 and 2021.
A baby boy born today can be expected to live 73 years and six months. Women are likely to live to 79 years and four months – seven months less than those born in 2020.
Women They are thought to live longer than men due to higher levels of estrogen, which helps fight life-threatening conditions such as heart disease by lowering unhealthy cholesterol.
Non-Hispanic Asian people stay the longest-living Americans, according to the CDC report, but their life expectancy dropped by one month to 83 years and one month.
The life expectancy of Hispanics also fell by a month to 77.8 years – a record low since Hispanic life expectancy estimates were introduced in 2006.
American Indians and Alaska Natives experienced the largest decline in life expectancy between 2020 and 2021, from 67.1 to 65.6 years.
The life expectancy of black Americans has fallen to the lowest level since 1997: 71.2 years.
Non-Hispanic Alaska Native people had the lowest life expectancy at 65.6 years.
Life expectancy fell less among Black people than among white people in 2021, partly reflecting Covid’s higher toll among minorities early in the pandemic.
Life expectancy for black people in the US last year was 70.8 years, compared to 76.4 years for white people.
This table shows the average number of years of life remaining for people who have reached a certain age
Life expectancy in the US has fallen to its lowest level since 1996, when it was 76.1 years
In 2020, the Covid crisis caused the largest annual decline in life expectancy since the Second World War.
After heart disease, cancer and Covid-19, unintentional injuries were the fourth leading cause of death. These include unintentional overdoses, car accidents and accidental falls.
Nearly 107,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, marking a 50 percent increase in overdoses death in the past two years.
Drug overdose deaths among American teens doubled between 2019 and 2021 — even as illicit substance use declined.
Deaths caused by fentanyl – an extremely powerful synthetic opioid used as a cutting agent in many street drugs – increased by 182 percent.