2021: Black Male Life Expectancy Dropped 6 years since 2014

The overall Life expectancy in the United States peaked in 2014 for all races and ethnicities, then it began dropping slightly before the pandemic.

Drug overdoses and suicides attributed greatly to the US life expectancy decreases since 2014. The opioid crisis hit America especially hard and now there are growing numbers of people who are dying after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl which is being added to illegal drugs.

Suicide rates had also increased greatly since 2013 even doubling in the Black community. Then the pandemic made it worse. In 2020 Covid-19 was the third largest cause of death affecting all populations.

Life expectancy for Black men dropped 5.8 years from 72.5 years to 66.7 years since 2014. Black women have seen a decrease of 3.7 years from 78.5 to 74.8 years with is still one year longer than White men. White men have lost 3 years and White women 2.2 years. In 2021 Native Americans had the lowest life expectancy at 65.2 years.