Life expectancy hit a 25-year low in 2021 because of COVID-19 and overdoses
Abigail Adcox
Video Embed
Life expectancy in the United States fell to the lowest it’s been since 1996 last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic and drug overdoses drove up the number of deaths.
The death rate for the U.S. population increased by 5% in 2021, shortening life expectancy to 76.4 years from 77 years in 2020, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HEALTHCARE POLICY WINS FOR BOTH SIDES INCLUDED IN MUST-PASS FUNDING BILL
An increase in the number of deaths from COVID-19 and drug overdoses largely contributed to the drop in life expectancy in 2021.
Life expectancy had been on an upward trend for decades until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. The decrease in life expectancy in 2020 was the largest observed since World War II, falling 1.8 years from the life expectancy at birth in 2019 of 78.8 years.
The newest data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic continued to take a toll on the population in 2021, as COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2021, behind heart disease and cancer. The number of COVID-19 deaths jumped up almost 20% between 2020 to 2021, despite COVID-19 vaccines becoming more widely available throughout the year.
“These data are very tragic but not surprising,” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN. “The pandemic had a magnifying effect on an already-devastating overdose crisis and exacerbated many of the stressors in society that make people more vulnerable to taking drugs.”
Drug overdose deaths rose significantly during the second year of the pandemic, reaching record highs in 2021 and contributing to the fall in life expectancy. Last year, 106,699 drug overdose deaths occurred, roughly a 16% increase from 2020.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Drug overdoses have been increasing over the past two decades in the U.S. Last year, the rate of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids besides methadone increased 22%, as fentanyl deaths continued to skyrocket.
Overall, death rates increased among all age groups from 2020 to 2021, except for infants younger than one year, an age group where severe cases of COVID-19 were rare.