Life expectancy in U.S. reaches record high as overdose deaths decline

An American born in 2024 can expect to live to age 79, on average, an increase of more than half a year from 2023, according to new data released this week (Source: “U.S. life expectancy hits a new high as deaths from overdoses and COVID fall,” NPR, Jan. 29).
 
The National Center for Health Statistics report found that the average U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024, according to the NCHS data, as the nation continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and deaths from drug overdoses continued to decline.
 
The new high surpasses the last peak in life expectancy in 2019, and it's the highest since the government started tracking this key measure of the nation's health and well-being in 1900.