U.S. life expectancy drops for 1st time in two decades

Life expectancy in the United States has declined for the first time since the early 1990s, a report released by U.S. health authorities stated on Friday. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in the report that in 2015, life expectancy in the U.S. was 78.8 years, marking a drop of 0.1 years from […]

Life expectancy in the United States has declined for the first time since the early 1990s, a report released by U.S. health authorities stated on Friday.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in the report that in 2015, life expectancy in the U.S. was 78.8 years, marking a drop of 0.1 years from the previous year.

For females, life expectancy dipped from 81.3 years to 81.2 years, while for males, the number fell from 76.5 years to 76.3 years.

“The culprits for the declining years were increases in the number of deaths due to heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney diseases and suicide,’’ the report said.

The leading causes of death in the U.S. remained heart disease and cancer, but the number of cancer deaths has dropped.

U.S. life expectancy last took a drop in 1993 when it declined from 75.6 years to 75.4 years as a result of the spread of flu epidemic and AIDS.

Ever since then it has steadily increased.

The U.S. ranked 43rd out of 224 countries for life expectancy in the CIA World Factbook 2015.

Monaco topped the list with an estimated life expectancy of 89.5 years. (Xinhua/NAN)