U.S. life expectancy saw biggest single-year drop since WW II

U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since the Second World War, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years.

The drop spelled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is responsible for close to 74 per cent of the overall life expectancy decline. More than 3.3 million Americans died last year, far more than any other year in U.S. history, with COVID-19 accounting for about 11 per