CDC report: US life expectancy hits record high at 79 years

The Centers for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released a landmark report confirming that US life expectancy reached a record high of 79 years in 2024.

The reports demonstrate that this milestone stems not only from the reduction in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also from a declining mortality rate among the nation’s leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, and drug overdoses.

Life expectancy is a crucial indicator of a population’s health; it represents an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year is expected to live, based on the mortality rates at that time.

For decades, US life expectancy rose steadily each year. However, it remained relatively stagnant for several years before plunging due to the COVID-19 pandemic that killed more than 1.2 million Americans.

The current data does not reflect the complete turnaround from the pandemic, but rather sustained progress in addressing the drug overdose epidemic, according to a researcher at Boston University.

Conversely, life expectancy at birth in the EU stands at 81.7 years, according to preliminary 2024 data. According to Euronews, heart disease was one of the nation’s leading causes of death, but the mortality rate dropped by approximately 3% for the second year in a row, thanks to advancements in medical treatments and weight management.

Preliminary data further suggests that around 3.05 million deaths were recorded in 2024; however, statistics for 2025 have not yet been finalized. Additionally, analysts note that 2024 showed a slight improvement compared to the previous year.