Life expectancy in US down for second consecutive year due to Covid-19, lowest since 1996: CDC

Preliminary government data released on Wednesday stated COVID-19 deaths caused life expectancy in the US to decline for the second consecutive year in 2021, reaching its lowest since 1996. The data further revealed, that drug overdoses and heart disease also played a significant factor in the overall drop in life expectancy.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered that the decrease in life expectancy at birth by nearly one year, from 2020 to 76.1 years, was marked the biggest two-year reduction in nearly a whole century.

Men are now anticipated to live for 73.2 years, which is about six years less than women, while the life expectancy gap between both sexes increased last year to its widest in more than 20 years.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The CDC reported COVID-19 was responsible for over 46,000 deaths caused in the US in 2021.

The worst annual loss in life expectancy the United States recorded after World War II was in 2020 due to Covid.

According to Robert Anderson, CDC head said, “Mortality's been a little better in 2022 than it was in 2020, so I think it's likely that we would see maybe a slight increase in life expectancy,” Reuters reported. He further added that due to the fact that deaths normally increase in the winter, life expectancy is unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Another factor that accounts for life expectancy other than Covid is suicide.

Despite a decline in suicide deaths in 2020, they still account for the fifth-largest share of the overall decline in life expectancy in 2017.

The third largest factor in the fall in men’s life expectancy is suicide-related deaths.

(With inputs from agencies)