Why is US declining on life expectancy rank despite improved records?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that life expectancy in the United States began to rise from COVID-19–era lows in 2022 to 77.5 years old, but the latest statistics remain among the worst number crunchers in years.

This is because the latest results have placed Americans even further behind their developed counterparts, the New York Post reported.

Dr Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health, told CNN that life expectancy remaining lower in 2022 than in 2019 means that "Americans continue to die at higher rates than they did before the pandemic, despite the rebound."

The record high for the US was 78.9 years which the nation reached in 2014.

Woolf noted that many other so-called wealthy countries have made more "substantial" recoveries post-pandemic.

The new data shows a significant increase in child deaths, with an infant mortality rate of 560.4 infant deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, a 3.1% rise from 2021.

The death rate among children aged 1 to 4 increased by 12% while for children aged 5 to 14, the death rate rose 7%.

"This is a red flashing light about the poor health status of Americans and how it now puts our children at risk," Woolf said.

"This trend does not explain decreases in life expectancy for the total population, which is driven by deaths in adults, but it is alarming nonetheless because it means that our children, our most cherished population, are less likely to survive to adulthood."

In 2022 fatal drug overdoses killed more people than ever, severely affecting the country’s life expectancy.

However, heart disease and cancer remained the leading causes of death, resulting in two out of every five deaths nationwide.

Between 2021 and 2022, COVID-19 death rates decreased by over half, with over 186,000 Americans dying in 2022 due to the virus, accounting for 6% of total deaths.