Life expectancy in the United States has begun to climb again as the threat of Covid-19 has receded, increasing by more than a year from 2021 to 2022, according to data released on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rise represents a slow and partial recovery for the country, which tallied more than 1.1 million Covid deaths and lost 2.4 years in life expectancy from 2019 to 2021.
But an array of other conditions continued to pose grave risks to Americans’ health. Deaths from flu, pneumonia, fetal and infant conditions and kidney disease all rose in 2022, the agency reported, partially offsetting the fall in Covid deaths.
“We’re halfway back to what we lost,” said Eileen Crimmins, an expert on gerontology and demography at the University of Southern California. “But we certainly have a very long ways to go before we get to where life expectancy should be.”
