Life expectancy falls again as covid, overdoses take a toll

Life expectancy in the U.S. fell for the second year in a row in 2021, marking the steepest two-year decline since the government began tracking this data point in 1923.​ Between 2019 and

2021, life expectancy fell 2.7 years for the total population, according to provisional life expectancy estimates for 2021 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Life

expectancy at birth was 76.1 years in 2021, down almost one year from 77 in 2020 for the overall population. In the two-year period, life expectancy for males dropped 3.1 years, to 73.2; for

females, it fell 2.3 years, to 79.1.​ “The decline in life expectancy between 2020 and 2021 was primarily due to increases in mortality due to COVID-19, unintentional injuries, heart

disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and suicide,” the CDC reported. COVID-19 accounted for about three-quarters of the decline in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021 and about half

of the decline from 2020 to 2021. The opioid crisis also weighed on life expectancies for some groups, including Native Americans and Hispanics. “The decline in life expectancy would have

been even greater were it not for the offsetting effects of decreases in mortality due to influenza and pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, perinatal

conditions, and Parkinson’s disease,” the report stated. If the mortality rates from influenza and pneumonia had not decreased, the decline in U.S. life expectancy would have been even

worse.​ OVERDOSES WEIGH ON NATIVE AMERICANS American Indians and Alaska Natives saw biggest life expectancy decline in 2021, dropping 1.9 years. Indigenous Americans now live to an average

of 65.2, down 6.6 years since 2019. The higher death rates were blamed on COVID-19, unintentional injuries including drug overdoses, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis. In 2021, about

109,000 people died due to drug overdoses, a record high in the country. For white people, COVID-19 accounted for over half of the deaths. Drug overdoses and other unintentional injuries

contributed about 12 percent of the decline in life expectancy for this group. Life expectancy for white people was 76.4 last year. In 2021, life expectancy among Black people declined less

than for white people, in part because during the early days of the pandemic, some minority groups died at a higher rate. As of 2021, Black people had a life expectancy of 70.8 years.

Unintentional injuries, including drug overdoses, were the leading cause of a decline in life expectancy for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Asian populations in 2021. COVID-19 came in second,

accounting for about a quarter of the deaths for the groups.  ASIAN POPULATION HAS THE HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY Among the different groups, life expectancy was highest for Asian men and women

in the U.S. Asian women live to an average of 85.6 years, and Asian men have a life expectancy of 81.2 years, according to the CDC. Hispanic women are the only other group with a life

expectancy over 80 years.​ American Indian men had the lowest life expectancy, hovering at around 61.5 years in 2021. Black men had the second-lowest life expectancy, at 66.7 years in 2021.