In the CDC’s recently released Mortality in the United States, 2018, the life expectancy of the total United States population increased from 78.6 to 78.7 — the first time life expectancy in America has risen since it peaked at 78.9 in 2014.
The difference is small, but it marks an end to the recent years of decreasing life expectancy, which hadn’t been seen since the AIDS epidemic in 1993, according to The New York Times.
The decrease in cancer-related deaths is part of the reason, CNN reported, and The New York Times reported the first drop in overdose deaths since 1990. Providence Journal reported the study also found decreases in deaths related to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The infant mortality rate also decreased by 2.3% in 2018, according to CNN.
But the CDC study did find that deaths related to suicide, nutritional deficiencies, influenza and pneumonia increased in 2018, according to the Times.
“We have the increase in life expectancy. We have six of the 10 leading causes of death showing decreases, the overdose report showing a decrease in drug overdose deaths and infant mortality going down also,” Kenneth Kochanek, a researcher for the National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN. “We’re giving positive news right now.”
The top 10 causes of death in America remained the same from 2017 to 2018, Fox News reported.