February 19 the U.S. federal government reported that in the first half of 2020, the life expectancy of Americans fell by one year compared with 2019, the largest decline since World War II.
The report pointed out that the coronavirus epidemic is an important cause of this situation.
According to the latest data, the life expectancy of Americans has dropped from 78.8 years in 2019.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pointed out that the decline in life expectancy in Americans has a lot to do with the coronavirus epidemic.
The last time a similar situation occurred was during World War II.
At the same time, the survey also shows that the difference in life expectancy between ethnic groups is deepening.
In the first half of 2020, the average life expectancy of African descent decreased by 2.7 years to 72 years from the previous year, offset the increase in the previous 20 years; the average life expectancy of Hispanics decreased from 81.8 years to 79.9 years; and the average life expectancy of white people decreased by 0.8 years to 78 years.
It is worth noting that the gap in life expectancy between African and white people has been narrowing in recent years, but now it has widened to six years, the largest gap since 1998.
According to the introduction, life expectancy is an important indicator of the health status of the population, and it is extremely unusual to see such a significant decline in a short period of time.
In previous years, the United States experienced a series of smaller declines due to the surge in drug overdose deaths. And the results of this large-scale decline, which led to the slow recovery of the past two years, are now gone.
However, the report also pointed out that unlike the decline in life expectancy caused by long-term and complex drug overdose problems, the decline caused by the main coronavirus epidemic is unlikely to last for a long time.
Even so, the researchers point out that the social and economic impact of the epidemic will persist.
Some researchers also said that drug deaths that began to soar again in 2019 and 2020 may continue to lower life expectancy.
