Changes in Life Expectancy Between 2019 and 2021 in the U.S. and 19 Peer Countries
US life expectancy decreased by 0.40 years between 2020 & 2021, adding to an historic 1.87-year reduction in 2020. As in 2020, the decrease in US life expectancy in 2021 was highly racialized, but it followed a distinctly different pattern.
Hispanic and Black populations experienced disproportionately large decreases in life expectancy in 2020, life expectancy in the Hispanic population increased negligibly in 2021. Life expectancy in the Black population increased by 0.42 years in 2021.
The non-Hispanic White population experienced a further decline of 0.34 years, which occurred disproportionately among men likely resulting in part because of low vaccination rates among while males in the US.
