Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. life expectancy rose to 79 years in 2024, an increase of more than 6 months from the previous year and a new record that reflects a sharp decline in deaths from COVID-19 and other unintentional injuries such as accidents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
According to a report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy improved for both men and women across races and among Hispanics, surpassing the previous peak set
in 2014.
Life expectancy has been rising since 2021, when COVID-19 led to the biggest drop in decades to 76.1 years.
In 2024, nine of the top ten leading causes of death were unchanged from 2023. COVID-19, which held the 10th spot in 2023, dropped by 37% to fall to the 15th position and was replaced by suicide, according to the report.
The top leading cause of death in 2024 was heart disease, followed by cancer and unintentional injuries with the 10 leading causes accounting for more than 70% of all deaths in the United States.
Robert Anderson, chief of the Statistical Analysis and Surveillance Branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, told the Wall Street Journal the rise to 79 years reflected improvements post-pandemic as well as declines in overdose deaths.
"You've got those two things working together: improvements coming out of the pandemic and then declines in overdose deaths," Anderson told WSJ.
The CDC, which released the report online, was not immediately available for comment on the contribution of drug overdose deaths.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
