CDC: US life expectancy rises after 2-year dip
The report marks a notable reversal: People born in the U.S. in 2022 can expect to live 77.5 years, an increase from 76.4 in 2021.
U.S. life expectancy increased for the first time in two years, according to a new report by the CDC.
The report, released Thursday, marks a notable reversal: People born in the U.S. in 2022 can expect to live 77.5 years, an increase from 76.4 in 2021.
Life expectancy had dropped in 2020 and 2021, which experts have said was driven by Covid-19 deaths and drug overdoses. The 2021 life expectancy report — a decline from 77 years to 76.4 years — marked the lowest U.S. life expectancy since 1996.
Still, the life expectancy rate still hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels: In 2019, life expectancy was 78.8.
Covid dropped from the top three leading causes of death in 2022, from third to fourth, replaced by unintentional injuries, the report said. Heart disease and cancer remain the top leading causes of death in the U.S.
However, the overall infant mortality rate increased by 3.1 percent in 2022, according to the CDC. Death rates for 1- to 4-year-olds jumped 12 percent and rose 7 percent for 5- to 14-year-olds. Among the leading causes of infant death are low birth weight, congenital malformations and sudden infant death syndrome.
The rise in life expectancy comes as overdose deaths leveled out between 2021 and 2022, according to a separate CDC report also released Thursday.
According to that report, while overdose deaths nearly quadrupled over the past two decades, they did not significantly increase between 2021 and 2022. The rate of drug overdose deaths was 32.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021 and 32.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022.
Drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, increased 4.1 percent between 2021 and 2022, while rates for heroin and methadone declined. The rates for cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential, like methamphetamine, increased.
Overdose deaths were highest among American Indian and Alaska Native people, followed by Black people and then white people. And in both 2021 and 2022, the death rates were highest among adults ages 35-44 and lowest among adults 65 and older. Between 2021 and 2022, deaths increased for adults 35 and older and declined for people ages 15-34.