The United States has achieved a remarkable public health milestone as life expectancy rose to 79 years in 2024, marking the highest level ever recorded in American history, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.
This represents an increase of more than half a year compared to 2023, signaling a continued recovery from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed over 1.2 million American lives and sent life expectancy plummeting to just under 76.5 years in 2021.
The improvement reflects declining death rates across virtually all major causes of mortality. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, but the death rate from cardiovascular conditions dropped by approximately 3 percent for the second consecutive year. Deaths from unintentional injuries, a category that includes drug overdoses, fell the most dramatically, declining more than 14 percent in 2024.
Perhaps most significantly, COVID-19, which ranked as the nation's third leading cause of death during the peak of the pandemic, has now dropped entirely out of the top 10 causes of death. In 2024, approximately 3.07 million Americans died, roughly 18,000 fewer than the previous year.
The positive trend spans all demographic groups, with death rates declining across all racial and ethnic categories and among both men and women. Robert Anderson of the National Center for Health Statistics described the findings as essentially good news all around, while noting that preliminary data suggests continued improvement through 2025.
Despite the encouraging news, health officials emphasized that significant challenges remain. Nearly 80,000 Americans still died from drug overdoses in 2024, and more than 30,000 succumbed to COVID-19. Additionally, the United States continues to lag behind other developed nations, most of which have life expectancies exceeding 80 years. Researchers noted that while reaching 79 years is a historic achievement for the U.S., many European and Asian countries surpassed this milestone years ago and continue to maintain higher averages.
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