Study: Life expectancy rates on the rise in the US

Editor's Note

A new study, led by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, Seattle, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and published by The Lancet on June 16, has examined trends in life expectancy in the US and between 2000 and 2019 and found that overall life expectancy increased by 2.3 years, Healthcare Purchasing News (HPN) June 20 reports.

However, the “increase was not consistent among racial and groups and by geographic area…[and] most of these gains were prior to 2010,” the article noted. Here are some noteworthy trends among the findings, according to HPN:

• In 2019, overall life expectancy in years was 85.7 for the Asian population, 82.2 for the Latino population, 78.9 for the white population, 75.3 for the Black population, and 73.1 for the AIAN (Native American and Alaska Natives) population.
• Between 2000 and 2019, life expectancy increased most for the Black population (3.9 years), the Asian population (2.9 years), and the Latino population (2.7 years).
• The increase in life expectancy for the white population was more moderate (1.7 years). For AIAN populations, there was no improvement in life expectancy.

HPN also offered a breakdown by county; click below to access the full article.