New Yorkers’ Life Expectancy Has Dipped. Officials Want to Change That.

The city laid out a series of proposals to reduce cancer deaths by 20 percent, and deaths from heart- and diabetes-related ailments by 5 percent, over the next five years.

New York City officials, intent on increasing residents’ life expectancy after a pandemic-era decline from which the city has not fully recovered, released an ambitious plan Tuesday that focuses on reducing deaths from cancer and chronic illnesses.

The first year of the pandemic took years off the expected life span of the average New Yorker; life expectancy in the city dropped from 82.6 years to 78 years, the lowest level since the early 2000s. It has since inched back up, reaching 81.5 years, according to the most recent statistics.

Mayor Eric Adams had previously announced a goal of raising the life expectancy to 83 years by 2030, but officials offered few specifics. On Tuesday the health department released a report that began to lay out a plan to get there.

The report, “Addressing Unacceptable Inequities: A Chronic Disease Strategy for New York City,” includes a number of proposals to help reduce the death toll of cancer and diabetes, especially in the Bronx, the city’s poorest borough.

“This road map sets out a bold vision for a city where all New Yorkers have the opportunity to live long, healthy lives, regardless of their ZIP code,” deputy mayors Anne Williams-Isom and Ana Almanzar wrote in an introduction to the report.

The Adams administration has set a goal of reducing deaths from some cancers — including breast, colon, prostate, lung and cervical cancers — by 20 percent over the next five years, partly by addressing racial disparities in cancer screenings and access to cancer care. The plan also calls for reducing deaths from diabetes- and heart-related ailments by 5 percent.