U.S. life expectancy increased in 2022, but still lags pre-pandemic levels

U.S. life expectancy rose last year — by more than a year — but still isn’t close to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic (Source: “US life expectancy rose last year, but it remains below its pre-pandemic level,” Associated Press via Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 29).

The 2022 rise in life expectancy was mainly due to the waning pandemic, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But even with the large increase, U.S. life expectancy is only back to 77 years, 6 months — about what it was two decades ago.

The snapshot statistic is considered one of the most important measures of the health of the U.S. population. The 2022 calculations released Wednesday are provisional and could change a little as the math is finalized.

For decades, U.S. life expectancy rose a little nearly every year. But about a decade ago, the trend flattened and even declined some years — a stall blamed largely on overdose deaths and suicides.

To learn more about trends in deaths among working-age Ohioans, which has driven the state’s decreased life expectancy, see HPIO’s recent data snapshot.