CDC: U.S. Life Expectancy Drops to 25-Year Low as Drug Overdose Deaths Surge from Last Year

U.S. life expectancy declined to a 25-year low in 2021 as nearly 107,000 Americans died from drug overdose deaths last year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data published Thursday.

It is the second year in a row life expectancy has decreased, and a person born in 2021 is now expected to live 76.4 years compared to 77 years in 2020 and 78.8 years in 2019, the CDC report stated.

The last time the life expectancy rate was this low was in 1996 when the figure was documented at 76.1 years.

The federal public health agency attributed COVID-19 as the primary driver for the surge of deaths last year but noted that drug overdose deaths also fueled the mortality rate. As Breitbart News has documented, drug overdose deaths skyrocketed amid the height of the pandemic-related lockdowns from 2020 to 2021.

The leading cause of death for Americans last year was heart disease, followed by cancer, the CDC noted. COVID-19 was the third leading cause, increasing from 85.0 deaths per 100,000 people in 2020 to 104.1 in 2021.

While COVID-19 deaths rose, influenza and pneumonia-related deaths decreased due to a mild flu season last year, and they were knocked off the top ten leading causes of death in 2021 after being included the year prior.