U.S. Life Expectancy Fell By 1.5 Years In 2020, The Biggest Drop Since WWII
A fence alongside Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, N.Y., is covered with memorial art for people who died of COVID-19. Pandemic deaths caused the biggest drop in life expectancy in decades. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
A fence alongside Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, N.Y., is covered with memorial art for people who died of COVID-19. Pandemic deaths caused the biggest drop in life expectancy in decades.
Life expectancy in the United States declined by a year and a half in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the coronavirus is largely to blame.
COVID-19 contributed to 74% of the decline in life expectancy from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 years in 2020, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
