A study published Tuesday by the National Vital Statistics System says that overall life expectancy increased by 1.1 years between 2021 and 2022, rising to 77.5 from 76.4. But that’s not enough to make up for the 2.4-year drop between 2019 and 2021, from 78.8 to 76.4.
“Increases in life expectancy between 2021 and 2022 occurred across all racial, ethnic, and sex groups,” reads the report. “However, the increases were not enough to make up for the losses in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021 that resulted mainly from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The decrease in mortality from COVID-19 accounted for 84.9% of the slight bump in life expectancy. Other small improvements were made in heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, and homicide.
However, an increase in the fatality of influenza and pneumonia accounted for nearly a third of the causes that continue suppressing life expectancy rates.
The report also cites nutritional deficiencies, kidney disease, birth defects, and perinatal conditions as contributing factors that hinder life expectancy.
Life expectancy increased the most, 2.2 years, for Hispanic Americans and the American Indians and Alaskan Natives demographic, from roughly 78 to 80 and 66 to 68, respectively.
Black life expectancy increased by 1.6 years, up to about 73 years. The life expectancy for white Americans only increased by 0.8 years, up to 77.5 years.
By sex, male life expectancy increased in 2022 by 1.3 years in 2022, up to nearly 75 years. For females, life expectancy at birth only increased by 0.9 years to 80.2.
Life expectancy at birth in 2022 was a year and a half lower for males than in 2019. For females, it was 1.2 years lower in 2022 than pre-pandemic levels.
Life expectancy in America continues to drag behind comparably developed countries, a trend that precedes the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new study from Brown University, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the U.S. is significantly behind its European counterparts in terms of life expectancy, even when adjusting for income brackets.
Brown University researchers compared the longevity data of more than 73,000 adults in the U.S. and different regions of Europe between the ages of 50 and 85. The comparison found that U.S. mortality rates were higher at all wealth levels compared to Europeans.
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Even the wealthiest Americans have survival rates comparable to those of the poorest classes in Western Europe, the authors suggest, citing comparisons to Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office estimates that life expectancy at birth in 2024 for boys is 78 years and 83 years for girls. In France, the female life expectancy at birth is nearly 85 and roughly 79 for males, according to the World Health Organization.
