U.S. life expectancy reaches 79 years in 2024

The CDC reported that U.S. life expectancy at birth rose to 79 years in 2024, up 0.6 years from 2023. Mortality fell for several leading causes including heart disease, cancer, Covid and overdoses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a rise in U.S. life expectancy in 2024. The increase follows declines in death rates for several major causes and restores life expectancy to slightly above its pre-pandemic level. The article notes changes in mortality across age groups and highlights treatment advances as a contributing factor. Commentary in the piece compares U.S. medical access with other systems and frames the changes within broader health policy debates. Key data: - U.S. life expectancy at birth increased to 79 years in 2024, up 0.6 years from 2023 and 0.2 years higher than in 2019. - Age-adjusted mortality fell in 2024 for unintentional injuries including overdoses (14.4% lower), kidney disease (3.8%), diabetes (3.1%), chronic lower respiratory diseases (3%), heart disease (2.8%), suicide (2.8%), chronic liver disease (2.3%), Alzheimer’s disease (2.2%), cancer (1.7%) and stroke (1%). - Covid deaths fell to 31,426 in 2024 from 49,932 in 2023, and were reported as less than 20,000 in 2025 in recent data cited by the article. - The increase in life expectancy compared with before the pandemic is linked to larger declines for chronic lower respiratory diseases (15.2%), cancer (4.7%) and heart disease (2.4%). - The article attributes some of the progress to improved treatments, including GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, and to expanded access across income groups. Summary: The reported rise restores U.S. life expectancy to slightly above its pre-pandemic level and reflects lower death rates for several major causes of death. Undetermined at this time.