U.S. Life Expectancy Dropped 1.5 Years In 2020, Mainly Due To COVID-19

The CDC said the decline was even starker among Hispanic and Black Americans.

Life expectancy in the U.S. fell by an astonishing year and a half in 2020, primarily due to the surge in deaths linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. The agency released the figures as part of a provisional report on the shift in mortality it publishes each year. While the numbers must be finalized by the CDC, the decline would be the largest in a single year since World War II and reflects the long toll the pandemic will have on the nation even after the country opens up once more. “Mortality due to COVID-19 had, by far, the single greatest effect on the decline in life expectancy at birth between 2019 and 2020,” the report says.