Posted on Dec 22, 2022
American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/22/ [login to see] /american-life-expectancy-is-now-at-its-lowest-in-nearly-two-decades
The average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months last year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born in the U.S. is now 76.4 years — the shortest it has been in nearly two decades.
The two reports, released by the CDC on Thursday, show deaths from COVID-19 and drug overdoses, most notably synthetic opioids like fentanyl, were the primary drivers of the drop in life expectancy.
"It's not a good year for the data, let's put it that way," says CDC statistician Kenneth Kochanek.
It's rare to see such big changes in life span year to year, but the pandemic claimed nearly 417,000 lives last year — more than even the year before — making COVID-19 the third leading cause of death for the second consecutive year.
Kochanek and his colleagues had hoped the release of new vaccines might make for a healthier 2021, and didn't anticipate deaths from COVID-19 would top the prior year. But they were wrong. In fact, COVID-19 accounted for about 60% of the decline in life expectancy.
The average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months last year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born in the U.S. is now 76.4 years — the shortest it has been in nearly two decades.
The two reports, released by the CDC on Thursday, show deaths from COVID-19 and drug overdoses, most notably synthetic opioids like fentanyl, were the primary drivers of the drop in life expectancy.
"It's not a good year for the data, let's put it that way," says CDC statistician Kenneth Kochanek.
It's rare to see such big changes in life span year to year, but the pandemic claimed nearly 417,000 lives last year — more than even the year before — making COVID-19 the third leading cause of death for the second consecutive year.
Kochanek and his colleagues had hoped the release of new vaccines might make for a healthier 2021, and didn't anticipate deaths from COVID-19 would top the prior year. But they were wrong. In fact, COVID-19 accounted for about 60% of the decline in life expectancy.
American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades
Posted from npr.org
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Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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I think this may be related to crime. We have a spiraling murder rate with most murder rate with most murders occurring to 16 to 40 year olds. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/27/us-murder-rate-increase-2020
US records largest annual increase in murders in six decades
National murder rate rises nearly 30%, with figure increasing across all regions and from small towns to cities
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LTC Eugene Chu
"It happened in big cities, it happened in small cities. It happened in counties that voted for Trump, it happened in counties that voted for Biden," he says. "It was really everywhere, and so I think that most places in America are grappling with at least some increase in gun violence over the last two years, which brings it to the forefront of these elections as they're taking place now."
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/ [login to see] /us-crime-data-midterm-elections
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/ [login to see] /us-crime-data-midterm-elections
Many midterm races focus on rising crime. Here's what the data does and doesn't show
Midterm voters are being inundated with political ads, and a lot of them are focused on crime. But a recent change in data collection paints an incomplete picture of the U.S. violent crime rate.
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LTC David Brown
The thread is about life expectancy not crime or Democrats, Republicans and Trump etc. 24,000 people killed majority between 16 to 40. Those statistics distort life expectancy. I 16 year old killed reduces the life expectancy of about 24 people by 2 years.
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