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American Life Expectancy is Now at its Lowest in Nearly Two Decades

The average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months last year, according to new data from the CDC. That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born in the U.S. is now 76.4 years — the shortest it has been in nearly two decades. The two reports, released by the CDC on Thursday, show deaths from COVID-19 and drug overdoses, most notably synthetic opioids like fentanyl, were the primary drivers of the drop in life expectancy. Read more from NPR here.