NewsBusiness

Actions

U.S., Arizona life expectancy falls, driven by deaths of younger people

Posted at 8:09 AM, Jan 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-16 11:40:47-05

After decades of steady increases, life expectancy in the U.S. ticked down slightly in the most recent years data was collected, a drop attributed to a rise in “cause-specific” deaths like suicides and drug overdoses among those aged 25 to 64.

The same was true in Arizona where, even though life expectancy was still higher than the national average, it was dropping at a similar rate.

The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association said that after rising to 79.1 years in 2014, U.S. life expectancy fell to 78.9 years in 2016, the latest year for which numbers were available.

In Arizona, the number fell from 79.6 to 79.3 years, still higher than the national average.

Read more from the Phoenix Business Journal.