Life expectancy drops for second consecutive year

Life expectancy has dropped for the second year straight. A report released Wednesday said babies born today will have a shorter life span by almost three years compared to those born before COVID-19.

The last time there was a drop this large was in the 1940’s during World War II. The last time life expectancy dropped two years consecutively was in the early 1960’s. A child born today is projected to live up to 76 years old. The data is dependent on death rates at the time.

The CDC says COVID-19 is the biggest contributing factor to this number. The second greatest factor is accidental deaths such as drug overdoses. Drug overdoses killed a record-breaking 107,000 Americans last year. U.S. life expectancy rose for decades, but progress stalled before the pandemic. It was 78 years, 10 months in 2019. In 2020, it dropped to 77 years. Last year, it fell to about 76 years, 1 month.

AP News contributed to this report