- It stands at 76.4 years, the lowest level since 1996.

Life expectancy in the US plummets due to covid and overdoses. / Pixabay

Life expectancy in the US plummets due to covid and overdoses

The average life expectancy in the United States fell in 2021 for the second consecutive year and stood at 76.4 years, the lowest level since 1996, mainly due to the covid-19 pandemic and drug overdoses.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detailed this Thursday that the reduction of 0.6 years in 2021 is added to that of 1.8 registered in 2020, which means that life expectancy in the country is now 2.4 years less than before the pandemic.

Almost one in eight deaths in 2021 was due to covid-19, an increase from the rate of one in 10 in 2020. In this way, the coronavirus was again the third cause of death last year, after heart disease and cancer.

Drug overdose deaths also increased significantly during the pandemic and contributed to the decline in life expectancy, reaching a record 106,699 deaths in 2021 (an increase of almost 16% compared to 91,799 in 2020).

The overdose death rate was 32.4 per 100,000 in 2021, up from 28.3 per 100,000 the previous year.

The rate of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (drugs such as fentanyl, tramadol, or their analogues) increased from 17.8 to 21.8 per 100,000 from 2020 to 2021.

In that period, the rate of deaths from cocaine overdose rose 22% (from 6.0 to 7.3), and that corresponding to psychostimulants such as methamphetamine increased 33% (from 7.5 to 10.0).

In contrast, the rate of heroin overdose deaths dropped 32%, from 4.1 in 2020 to 2.8 in 2021.

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