US life expectancy drops for 2nd straight year, due to Covid
Washington (AFP) - Life expectancy for Americans dropped in 2021 for the second straight year -- the biggest two-year decline in a century -- notably due to the Covid-19 pandemic, US health officials announced Wednesday. US life expectancy at birth dipped by nearly a full year from 2020 to 2021, to 76.1 years, the lowest average since 1996, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, Americans in 2020 were expected to live 77 years, a sharp drop from the 78.8 years in 2019. "The declines in life expectancy since 2019 are largely drive...