Life Expectancy Rises for First Time in Four Years
Nursing home residents in Louisiana (Wikimedia)
Life expectancy in the United States increased by 0.1 years in 2018 to 78.7 years according to a new Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report released on January 30. This marks an end to a three year period of life expectancy decline.
Between 1959 and 2014, life expectancy in the United States rose from 69.9 years to 78.9 years at a constant and unprecedented rate. However, the trend reversed and life expectancy declined from 78.9 years to 78.6 years from 2015 to 2017. Since 2010, no such prolonged decline in life expectancy has occurred in any other developed country.
In their 2017 Health Report, the CDC highlighted three major factors responsible for this decline in life expectancy: drug overdose, suicide, and chronic liver disease. Each of these categories had seen significant increases between 2014 and 2017. Drug overdoses, in particular, grew exponentially in this period due to the opioid epidemic in states such as West Virginia, Ohio, and New Hampshire.
The increase in life expectancy in 2018 also appears to be connected to a slow reversal of the opioid epidemic. According to another recent CDC report, drug overdose deaths declined in the United States for the first time in 28 years, while rates for cancer and heart disease also declined.
The Trump administration labeled the news as domestic policy victory. Kellyanne Conway, Senior Counselor to the President, said in a White House press conference, “This has not happened through coincidence, it has happened through causation.” President Donald Trump mentioned the recent optimistic statistics concerning the opioid epidemic during his State of the Union address.
“With unyielding commitment, we are curbing the opioid epidemic,” Trump said. “Drug overdose deaths declined for the first time in nearly 30 years. Among the states hardest hit, Ohio is down 22 percent, Pennsylvania is down 18 percent, Wisconsin is down 10 percent — and we will not quit until we have beaten the opioid epidemic once and for all.”
Recent optimistic news from the CDC suggesting a possible reversal of the opioid epidemic might become a significant part of Trump’s campaign, particularly in the Rust Belt.
Despite the optimism caused by the decline in the opioid epidemic, the suicide rate rose in 2018. The United States is still lagging in the fields of health and life expectancy. It currently ranks 35th among the world’s countries for life expectancy. Major industrial countries, such as Japan, France, and South Korea, all have life expectancies exceeding 82 years.
The recent upward turn in life expectancy is a good sign for many of those concerned about the previous years of decline. However, this is based on the data from 2018. The CDC will release the life expectancy for 2019 in 2021. Next year’s data will provide insight into whether the rise in life expectancy will be sustained.