Why is life expectancy in the US dropping? - Fact Check Team

Life expectancy in the U.S. is on the decline, hitting its lowest level since 1996.

The National Desk’s Fact Check Team is taking a closer look at what’s behind this decline.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, the average American could expect to live to age 76, which is three years less than it was in 2019.

It marks the biggest two-year drop in life expectancy since the early 1920s.

This varies by state though. A special CDC report from 2022 that found in 2020, Washington, D.C. and Hawaii had the highest life expectancy at just over 80 years old while Mississippi had the lowest at 71.9 years old.

It also found that states with the lowest life expectancy were mostly southern like Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi while states with the highest were mostly western and northeastern like California, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

CDC data also indicates that between 2019 and 2021, one of the biggest drops in life expectancy was among American Indians and Alaska natives, which fell by more than six years to 65.2 years old. The decrease was also more prominent among white Americans than among Black Americans.

When looking at the data for men and women, the life expectancy for women dropped from 79.9 years old in 2020 to 79.1 in 2021. For men, who generally live shorter than women, it dropped a full year — down to 73.2 in 2021.

More information

Fact check team, life expectancy

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