U.S. life expectancy reached a record high in 2024, rising to 79 years as the nation continued its post-pandemic recovery and saw a decline in overdose deaths.
New data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a 0.6-year increase from 2023. The figures suggest a continual rise in life expectancy as the country continues to bounce back from the pandemic.
“It’s pretty much good news all the way around,” said Robert Anderson, of the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Anderson also told The Wall Street Journal that the rise to a 79-year life expectancy mirrored post-pandemic improvements as well as declines in overdose deaths.
Between 2023 and 2024, drug overdose deaths decreased by more than 26%, the largest year-to-year drop in overdose related deaths since those fatalities were recorded by the federal government, according to the WSJ.
“You’ve got those two things working together: improvements coming out of the pandemic and then declines in overdose deaths,” Anderson said.
Shifting causes of death
For the first time since 2020, COVID-19 dropped out of the top 10 causes of death. Its departure to the No. 15 spot allowed suicide to reenter the rankings at No. 10, though that result is a statistical irony. Suicide rates did not actually rise; they fell in 2024, but at a slower pace than the decline in COVID-19 fatalities.
Meanwhile, the “big three,” heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries, continue to claim 70% of American lives. However, heart disease is beginning to lose its grip, with death rates dropping 3% for the second straight year, according to the report.
Dr. Sadiya Khan, who treats and studies heart disease at Northwestern University, said a combination of factors contributed to this decrease, like advances in medical treatments and better weight management, according to CBS News.
Overall, total deaths for 2024 sat at 3.07 million, approximately 18,000 fewer than the previous year. Death rates fell across all racial and ethnic groups, as well as for both men and women.
For those at the age of 65, life expectancy averaged an additional 19.7 years. Women in this bracket can expect to live another 20.8 years, while men average 18.4 years.
The infant mortality rate showed no statistically significant change, though the raw numbers trended downward from 560.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 to 552.5 in 2024.
The global gap
Despite improvements domestically, Anderson noted that life expectancy in the U.S. still falls behind other developed nations such as Australia, Spain and Japan. While the U.S. is “knocking on the door” of the 80-year barrier, many peer nations have already passed it.
“We’re nowhere near the upper range for developed countries in the world in terms of life expectancy even at 79 years,” Anderson said, according to NPR. “Most of the developed countries are over 80 years, in terms of life expectancy. So we still lag behind other countries.”
How Utah stacks up
In 2021, the latest available data for individual states, Utah’s average life expectancy at birth was 78.2 years, outperforming the national average of 76.1 years, by 2.1 years.
While 2024 health data for Utah is not yet available, CDC records from 2023 show Utah’s infant mortality rate was 5.22 deaths per 1,000 live births. The state’s leading casue of death in 2023 were heart disease, cancer and accidents, with kidney disease rounding out the top ten.
Looking ahead
While 2024 was a record-breaking year for life expectancy, health experts are still pushing for improvements.
Preliminary data for 2025 suggests roughly 3.05 million deaths have been recorded so far, a number that could rise as more data is finalized, according to The Associated Press.
“We should celebrate. It’s very encouraging to see that mortality is declining and life expectancy is increasing in the United States,” said Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, according to NPR.
“But we still see very high mortality from drugs, very high mortality from suicide, infant mortality remains high and maternal mortality remains high. So as we celebrate we will have a lot of work ahead,” he added.