Life expectancy lowest since 1996 because of COVID, overdoses: CDC

Life expectancy in the United States is at its shortest since 1996, dragged down by an increase in COVID and drug overdose deaths, according to federal data.

Coronavirus caused the third-most deaths in the US in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, with only heart disease and cancer causing more.

Drug overdoses, which are counted among accidental injuries, were the fourth-leading cause of death. 

There were 106,999 overdose deaths in 2021, a 16% increase from the 92,000 deaths in 2020. 

And the rate of drug fatalities involving opioids like fentanyl and tramadol spiked 22% from 2020 to 2021, while deaths from heroin overdoses fell 32% over the same period. 

Americans 65 and older saw the largest increase in ODs — 28% from 2020 to 2021. 

COVID deaths increased 18.8% — from 350,831 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, to 416,893 in 2021. 

In all, the CDC said, a total of 3,464,231 Americans died in 2020, 80,502 more than in 2021.

As a result, the overall US life expectancy fell to 76.4 years last year from an even 77 in 2020. 

Among males, life expectancy dropped from 74.2 years in 2020 to 73.5 years in 2021, while it decreased from 79.9 years in 2020 to 79.3 years in 2021 in females.

Americans who reached the age of 65 were expected to live another 18.4 years as of 2021, down slightly from 2020.

For men aged 65, additional life expectancy remained the same at 17 years, while for women, life expectancy fell to 19.7 in 2021 from 19.8 in 2020.

Rounding out the top 10 killers of Americans were stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cirrhosis, and kidney disease. 

Of the top 10 causes of US death, COVID-19 had the highest increase in mortality rate — 22.5% — from 2020 to 2021.

The second highest rate increase was 12.3% for accidents, 9% for cirrhosis, 7.1% for kidney disease, 5.9% for stroke, 2.4% for diabetes, 3.3% for heart disease, and 1.7% for cancer. 

Mortality rates fell for 4.7% for chronic respiratory diseases and 4.3% for Alzheimer’s disease.