US life expectancy increases but remains below pre-Covid level

CDC researchers say life expectancy has rebounded to 77 years and six months as pandemic wanes but still down on 2019 statistic

US life expectancy rose last year by more than a year but still is not close to what it was before the Covid pandemic.

The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said on Wednesday. But even with the large increase, US life expectancy is only back to 77 years and six months - about what it was two decades ago.

Life expectancy increased for both men and women, and for every racial and ethnic group.

The decline in Covid deaths drove 84% of the increase in life expectancy. The next largest contributor was a decline in heart disease deaths, credited with about 4% of the increase. But experts note that heart disease deaths increased during Covid-19, and both factored into many pandemic-era deaths.

Changes in life expectancy varied by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Americans and American Indians and Alaska Natives saw life expectancy rise more than two years in 2022. Black life expectancy rose more than one and a half years. Asian American life expectancy rose one year and white life expectancy rose about 10 months.