Life expectancy in the U.S. ticked upward in 2022, after two consecutive years of declines fueled mainly by the Covid-19 pandemic, data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday showed.
Covid-19 cause life expectancy in the U.S. to drop by 2.4 years in 2020 and 2021. As the pandemic ... [+]
Provisional data released by the CDC shows that life expectancy at birth in the U.S. rose to 77.5 years in 2022—an increase of 1.1 years compared to 2021.
The report notes that the 1.1-year increase in life expectancy is largely the result of a decline in the number of Covid-19 deaths.
The bump in life expectancy was more pronounced among men—rising from 73.5 years in 2021 to 74.8 in 2022—as the pandemic’s impact lessened.
Life expectancy at birth for women rose to 80.2 years in 2022, a 0.9-year increase from the previous year.
The increase in life expectancy could have been higher had it not been for a rise in the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia, birth conditions, kidney disease and nutritional deficiencies, the report added.
244,000. That is the total number of Covid-19 deaths recorded in the U.S. in 2022, according to CDC data. This was a 47% drop compared to pandemic mortality in the previous year.
While the numbers for 2022 represent a significant improvement, life expectancy in the country remains below pre-pandemic levels. In 2020 and 2021, overall life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by 2.4 years, erasing more than two decades of improvements. The bump in 2022 only manages to erase less than half of the pandemic’s impact.