Average life expectancy for Americans fell again last year, to 78.6 years, as opioid abuse, suicide and diabetes picked up, though death by heart disease, the nation’s No. 1 killer, stabilized.
The data of the past few years mark a disturbing result not seen in the U.S. since 1915 through 1918, which included World War I and a flu pandemic. Yet in most other developed nations, life expectancy has marched steadily higher for decades.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Thursday showed life expectancy fell by one-tenth of a year, to 78.6 years, pushed down by the sharpest annual increase in suicides in nearly a decade and a continued rise in deaths from opioid drugs like fentanyl. Influenza, pneumonia and diabetes also contributed to last year’s increase.
“Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the nation’s overall health and these sobering statistics are a wakeup call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director.
The U.S. has lost three-tenths of a year in life expectancy since 2014, a marked reversal for a developed nation. Life expectancy is 84.1 years in Japan and 83.7 years in Switzerland, first and second in the most-recent ranking by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. ranks 29th on that list.
White men and women fared the worst, along with black men, all of whom experienced increases in death rates. Death rates rose in particular for adults ages 25 to 44, and suicide rates are highest among people in the nation’s most rural areas. On the other hand, deaths declined for black and Hispanic women, and remained the same for Hispanic men, CDC data showed.
As usual, women will continue to outlive men. In both 2016 and 2017, female life expectancy was 81.1 years, while male life expectancy dropped from 76.2 years in 2016 to 76.1 in 2017.
Drug-overdose deaths skyrocketed between 2015 and 2017, particularly for adults between ages 25 and 54. The main culprit was fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that became pervasive in illicit drug supplies in the U.S. around that time. Deaths from synthetic opioids rose 45% in 2017, while the death rate from heroin, which had risen sharply after 2010, was flat.
In a flash of optimism, the rise in drug-overdose deaths was slower in 2017 than the previous year. Total overdose deaths for the preceding 12 months dropped slightly between late last year and April, though they remain high.
Suicides rose 3.7% in 2017, accelerating an increase in rates since 1999, the CDC said in a breakout report on this manner of death. The gap in deaths by suicide widened starkly between cities and the most rural areas between 1999 and 2017, the data show.
In 2017, the suicide rate for the most rural counties (20 per 100,000) outpaced that in the most urban counties (about 11 per 100,000). However, this 2017 urban suicide rate is 16% higher than in 1999 (about 10 per 100,000), while the 2017 suicide rate for the most rural counties is 53% higher than in 1999 (about 13 per 100,000), the report indicates.
Deaths from heart disease, the nation’s leading killer, went down only slightly, failing to offset the increases in mortality from other causes. Still, a decades long decline in deaths from heart disease — credited to anti-smoking campaigns, for one, along with medications to control blood pressure and cholesterol — has stalled in recent years. Cancer deaths — the nation’s No. 2 killer — are continuing a steady decline that began in the 1990s.
The people are stressed over a variety of issues. The biggest IMO is always money. It’s extracted from the individual with no real benefit to the individual. Leaving the individual with less at the same time that nearly everything is increasing in cost. This induces a lot of stress that we all react too differently.
Some turn to drugs, others cut costs, or any number of other reactions. The majority are likely negatively stressful.
Now compound that with the insanity of society currently happening, and the gov take over of healthcare (moar money for less care).
Is it really surprising that life expectancy is dropping?
I think the problem is that nothing makes sense anymore.
I am wondering about the statistical view of this since the life expectancy should look at the plight of those that make it out to the projected age. The other issue is that we are having a Governmental Agency wish to make those of us that live a more prudent way of life feel that we are not doing the correct thing. If people ride motorcycles without helmets, that is their responsibility. I do not want to be judged and included in statistics over which I have NO control. This translates to those that make a decision to use illegal drugs and attempt to make me feel afraid that I will not survive as a result. We seem to be looking at the issue raised where, “Statistics don’t lie only statisticians do”. Now if we see that there are not as many 80 and 90 y/o’s as opposed to there are fewer people because irresponsible persons are killing themselves, then we need to look at the potential reason.
This is more of the collective guilt the progs try to shove up everybody’s fanny. Obama was big on how the collective had to this or that and individuals could not move ahead unless this “collective” also could move ahead. They are trying to psychologically anchor us to the morons, dope heads, land whale 30 year olds at Wally World driving the scooters as if we share responsibility for all the stupid things stupid people do and won’t stop regardless of what we do.
They don’t want to show stats of what we responsible people do since it would allow us to ignore this guilt they wish us to share in order to drag us into their collective Hell. If you are not overweight, can walk two miles, can shovel your sidewalk without having dizzy spells, don’t drink too much or use cocaine, meth, heroin and have good relationships with family and neighbors, church etc. you will live as long as the Japanese or Swiss guys if not longer.
The economy, the invaders, and Chinese fentanyl–none of them mentioned in the article…
I predict they will go after the fentanyl big time. It interferes with the heroin trade the big banks and Deep State are up to their necks in.
And yet those in power or wealth can seemingly live on forever. I am convinced that the rich come up with new treatments for themselves and themselves alone. The masses can’t afford them or their elite-owned insurance won’t pay. But the rich are made to look like philanthropists, with only the best of intentions. While in private they talk about wiping out 9/10 of the world’s population.
Evil fuckers.
I’m sure all those diseases the Democrats’ pet Third Worlders have brought into the country will help.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/11/the_migrant_caravan_of_diseases.html