U.S. Life Expectancy Drops 1 Full Year Due to COVID-19
By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 18, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- In a sign that the coronaviruspandemic is cutting short the lives of Americans, a new government report finds that average life expectancy in the United States took a drastic plunge during the first half of 2020, particularly among Black and Hispanic people.
Overall U.S. life expectancy dropped to 77.8 years, down one full year from the 78.8 years estimated in 2019.
Declines were even greater for certain demographics. For example, average life expectancy decreased 2.7 years for Black people and 1.9 for Hispanic people between 2019 and the first half of 2020, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Life expectancy for white people decreased by an average 0.8 years.