New York — Life expectancy in the United States rose to 79 years in 2024 – the highest in American history.
It is the result of not only waste Covid-19 pandemicbut also declining death rates from all of the country’s killer diseases, including heart disease, cancer and drug overdoses.
Moreover, preliminary statistics indicate continued improvement in 2025.
“It’s good news pretty much everywhere,” said Robert Anderson of the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released the 2024 data on Thursday.
Life expectancy, a basic measure of a population’s health, is an estimate of the average number of years a child born in a given year is expected to live, given the death rates of that time.
For decades, life expectancy in the United States has risen at least a little almost every year, thanks to medical advances and public health measures. It peaked in 2014, just 79 years later.
It was relatively steady for several years before tapering off as the COVID-19 pandemic killed more than 1.2 million Americans. In 2021, life expectancy fell to just under 76 and a half years. It has since rebounded.
The data not only reflects a complete turnaround from the epidemic, but also a permanent improvement in the situation Drug overdose epidemicsaid Andrew Stokes, a researcher at Boston University.
The bad news is that the United States still ranks lower Dozens Stokes pointed to other countries.
“There is a lot to be done,” he said.
In 2024, about 3.07 million US residents died, about 18,000 fewer than the previous year. Mortality rates decreased among all racial and ethnic groups, and in both men and women.
Heart disease remained the main cause of death in the country, but the death rate due to it decreased by about 3% for the second year in a row. Dr. Sadia Khan, who treats and studies heart disease at Northwestern University, said a combination of factors likely play a role, including advances in medical treatments and weight management.
Deaths from unintentional injuries — a category that includes drug overdoses — fell even further, falling more than 14% in 2024. COVID-19, which just a few years ago was the nation’s No. 3 killer, dropped out of the top 10 in 2024.
Decline in COVID-19 moves suicides into top 10, despite suicides in 2024 decreased. A report this week said homicides were down that year as well.
Death statistics for 2025 have not been finalized, but preliminary data indicate that about 3.05 million deaths have been recorded. That number may grow as more death certificates are collected and analyzed, but Anderson said he expects last year to end at least slightly better than in 2024.
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