The National Center on Health Statistics (NCHS), CDC, released yesterday new figures on life expectancy in the US. Life expectancy in the US at birth in 2007 was almost 78 years (77.9 overall for all persons - both sexes and all races combined). This is an increase from 77.7 years in 2006. These figure also show an increase of 0.1 years in life expectancy for persons aged 65 from 18.5 additional years (83.5 years total) in 2006 to 18.6 additional years (83.6 years total) in 2007.
Increase in life expectancy are observed for both sexes and for both Whites and Blacks. Significant differences in life expectancy remain between the sexes and races. However, in recent years both men and Black persons (male and female) have shown increases in life expectancy.
NCHS reports that these increase in life expectancy are due to decreases in the mortality rates for several leading causes of death including heart disease, cancer and stroke. While the increases from year to year are modest, the pattern has been consistent over the past few decades resulting in an expected increase of almost 9 years over the past 50 years in the life expectancy at birth for the US population as a whole and almost 5 years for persons at age 65.
