In 2017, the United States crossed a grim threshold: Average life expectancy decreased for the third year in a row.[1] At first glance, the drop in life expectancy looks like a blip. Other developed nations also experienced a decline around 2015, caused partly by severe influenza strains and less effective vaccines.[2]
However, most other developed countries bounced back with longer life expectancies in 2016. The United States did not. In addition, the 2015 life expectancy decline played out differently in our country. Among Americans, it was concentrated in people younger than 65 years, whereas in other developed countries, it occurred among the elderly. When death occurs in those who are younger, there is a bigger impact on life expectancy measurements overall.[2]
Even more alarming, the life expectancy decline in the United States fit into a long-term pattern. Back in 1960, Americans had the highest average life expectancy in the world, and it was 2.4 years longer than the average in countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).[3]However, in the 1980s, the rest of the developed world caught up. By 1998, the average life expectancy in the United States fell below the OECD average, and in 2012, it reached a plateau.
