On Aug. 25, 2026, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that In 2024, the overall expectation of life at birth was 79.0 years, increasing 0.6 year from 78.4 years in 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, life expectancy at birth increased by 0.7 year for males (from 75.8 to 76.5) and 0.3 year for females (81.1 to 81.4) exceeding or surpassing pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

U.S. life expectancy at birth increased for the third year in a row following 2 years of decline between 2019 and 2021 that resulted mainly from the COVID-19 pandemic. Increases in life expectancy between 2023 and 2024 occurred across all racial, ethnic, and sex groups. In 2024, life expectancy at birth reached or surpassed pre-pandemic (2019) values for the first time for the non-Hispanic Asian, Black, and White populations. Life expectancy remained lower than it was in 2019 for the Hispanic and American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic populations.

The report published by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data used U.S. life tables for 2024, the final numbers of deaths for the year 2024; July 1, 2024, population estimates; and age-specific death and population counts for Medicare beneficiaries ages 66–99 for the year 2024 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Population estimates are based on the blended base produced by the
U.S. Census Bureau instead of the April 1, 2020, decennial population count.