As life continues to go on after the COVID-19 pandemic, two new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that life expectancy in the United States is rebounding, increasing from an average of 76.4 years in 2021 to 77.5 years in 2022.
However, life expectancy still hasn’t come close to its peak of 78.9 years in 2014. Heart disease and cancer continue to be the leading causes of death in America. Although deaths from COVID-19 decreased more than 55% in 2022, it still affected the average lifespan by killing more than 186,000 people that year.
Fatal overdoses, often from fentanyl, are also keeping life expectancy lower, with it being the cause of 107,941 deaths in 2022. “Overall, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from 8.2 in 2002 to 32.6 in 2022,” one of the studies said.
The studies also found a concerning increase in infant mortality, which rose 3.1%. Potential causes include bacterial infections in newborns and maternal complications.
