The U.S. life expectancy has dipped to the lowest it’s been since 1996, according to final mortality data published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC’s final report for overall death across the nation in 2021 stated that over 3.4 million Americans died that year, an increase of more than 80,000 from the prior year.
Nearly 1 in 8 deaths in 2021 were due to COVID-19, up from about 1 in 10 deaths the year prior. It had become the third leading cause of death in the nation. Heart disease remained the leading cause of death, followed by cancer. About half of all deaths last year were from just these three causes.
Accidental injury, including drug overdoses, was the fourth leading cause of death, the agency reported. According to final figures for 2022, 106,699 people died, up from 92,000 Americans who died from an overdose the year prior, the CDC reported.
Earlier provisional data suggested there were well over 107,000 overdose deaths last year. According to a CDC spokesperson, the numbers likely changed as additional death records came in, also noting that provisional data includes all overdose deaths, while the final numbers are limited to U.S. residents only.
Earlier this month, the White House launched a the NEMSIS Opioid Overdose Tracker, a national data dashboard that for the first time tracks the rate of nonfatal opioid overdoses across the country, which health experts say will help accurately target resources to areas hit hard by the crisis.
The report used the most recent data from the National Vital Statistics System. Other key findings include:
- In 2021, 106,699 drug overdose deaths occurred, resulting in an age-adjusted rate of 32.4 per 100,000 people in the United States.
- Adults aged 65 and over had the largest percentage increase in rates from 2020 through 2021.
- Drug overdose death rates increased for each race and Hispanic-origin group except non-Hispanic Asian people.
- The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone increased 22%, while the rate of deaths involving heroin declined 32%.
- From 2020 through 2021, the rate of drug overdose deaths increased for deaths involving cocaine and those involving psychostimulants with abuse potential.
The coronavirus was a major contributor to that decline in life expectancy, now nearly two and a half years shorter than it was before the pandemic began. After a drop of 1.8 years in 2020, another cut of 0.6 years last year brought U.S. life expectancy in 2021 down to 76.4 years.
The final CDC mortality data shows that between 2020 and 2021, overall death rates increased for all age groups except infants younger than one.
The end result? Americans’ life expectancy dropped to about 76 years and 5 months.
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