The CDC reported Wednesday that life expectancy in the United States declined for the second year in a row in 2021—and by an alarming rate that was the biggest drop in almost a century.
According to the provisional data published by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, life expectancy at birth dropped by nearly a year between 2020 and 2021 and by 2.7 years overall since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, life expectancy at birth was 76.1 years, declining by 0.9 year from 77.0 in 2020. The decline was primarily due to increases in mortality due to COVID-19 (50.0% of the negative contribution), unintentional injuries (15.9%), heart disease (4.1%), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3.0%), and suicide (2.1%).
Life expectancy at birth for males in 2021 was 73.2 years, representing a decline of 1.0 year from 74.2 years in 2020. For females, life expectancy declined to 79.1 years, decreasing 0.8 year from 79.9 years in 2020. Historically, changes of more than a few tenths of a year have been considered substantial.
White Americans experienced a larger decrease in life expectancy in 2021 than Black and Hispanic Americans. The report finds this was the opposite of what happened in 2020, when Hispanic Americans experienced a 4-year decline and Black Americans a 3-year drop. Life expectancy for White Americans declined by a year in 2021 to 76.4—the lowest seen since 1995. Black Americans saw a 0.7-year decline to 70.8 years (a level last seen in 1996), Hispanic Americans saw a 0.2-year decline to 77.7 years (a level lower than in 2006), and Asian Americans saw a 0.1-year decline to 83.5 years.
The report says excess deaths due to COVID-19 and other causes in 2020 and 2021 led to the overall decline in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021 of 2.7 years for the total population, 3.1 years for males, and 2.3 years for females.
Here are a few more eye-catching stats from the report:
• Drug overdose deaths reached a record high in 2021, killing about 109,000 people. Deaths from unintentional injuries—about half of which are due to a drug overdose—was the second-leading cause of the decline in life expectancy. In 2021, mortality rates due to influenza and pneumonia actually decreased, and if not for these “offsetting effects,” the report says the decline in U.S. life expectancy would have been even greater.
• The report shows a startling decline over the past 2 years in life expectancy among American Indian and Alaska Native populations. It plunged by nearly 2 years between 2020 and 2021 for this group and by a staggering 6.6 years since 2019—more than twice as much as it did for the total U.S. population. At 65.2 years, the life expectancy for American Indians in 2021 was equal to the overall U.S. life expectancy in 1944.
National Public Radio (NPR) reported today that states which were more relaxed about COVID restrictions and have lower vaccination rates saw higher excess deaths during the delta and omicron surges than states which had more aggressive vaccination campaigns, masking and other mitigation requirements.
Death rates from COVID-19 in counties that went heavily for Donald Trump saw higher death rates than counties that favored President Biden, according to an NPR analysis.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has in effect wiped out the health gains that the U.S. has made in the 20th century,” John Haaga, a member of Maryland’s Commission on Aging, told NPR. “To have this second year of crash basically wiping out the meager gains made during the century is really pretty shocking.”
SEE ALSO:
• COVID-19 Causes Big Drop in U.S. Life Expectancy
• Problem—We’re Really Bad at Guessing When We’ll Die
• A 65-Year Retirement? New Research Finds Humans Could Live to 130
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
