The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data reveals that life expectancy rates have dropped in all 50 states and the District of Columbia by 1.8 years from 2019 to 2020, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unintentional injuries such as drug overdose deaths.
Among the states, Pennsylvania ranks at No. 25 with a life expectancy of 76.8 years, Delaware follows at No. 27 with 76.7 years, and New Jersey leads the group at No. 20 with 77.5 years. The state with the highest life expectancy is Hawaii at 80.7 years, while Mississippi has the lowest at 71.9 years.
The study also reveals that in 2020, life expectancy was 74.2 years for males and 79.9 years for females. States such as New York saw a three-year decline in life expectancy, while Hawaii only experienced a 0.2 drop to 80.7 years.
Experts from the CDC caution that the methodology used to estimate the 2020 life tables for the states may have required additional smoothing techniques due to very small numbers of deaths at certain ages. However, it is clear that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and unintentional injuries has had a significant effect on life expectancy rates across the country.
Overall, while the decrease in life expectancy rates is concerning, experts emphasize that the reasons behind the decline are understood, and efforts to address these issues can hopefully lead to improvements in the future.
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