'US Life Expectancy Drops by One Year in Six Months Due to COVID-19 Impact'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] A report has emerged stating that the life expectancy of Americans has decreased by one year in just half a year due to the impact of COVID-19.

On the 18th (local time), according to the New York Times (NYT) and others, the National Center for Health Statistics under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the life expectancy of Americans in the first half of last year was estimated to be 77.8 years. This is one year less compared to 2019. The decrease in life expectancy this time is the largest since 1943, when it dropped by 2.9 years during World War II.

Foreign media attributed the decrease in life expectancy to COVID-19. This is because the life expectancy of Americans had been slowly increasing over the past 40 years. The most recent period when life expectancy decreased was from 2014 to 2017, due to drug overdoses such as opioids and an increase in suicide rates. At that time, the decrease was an average of 0.3 years for both men and women.

Life expectancy is the average number of years a newborn is expected to live assuming current mortality rates do not change, and it is a fundamental measure of population health. The NYT stated, "A sharp decline over a short period is very unusual and a sign of deep distress," calling it "the deadly consequence of the coronavirus pandemic."

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