Got a longer life? CDC says Yes!

William Atkins
Saturday, 22 August 2009 18:45

Science - Health

According to a September 12, 2007 news release from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the average U.S. life expectancy has increased to 77.9 years.


Entitled “Life Expectancy at All Time High; Death Rates Reached New Low, New Report Shows,” the August 19, 2009 news release states, “U.S. life expectancy reached nearly 78 years (77.9), and the age-adjusted death rate dropped to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 population, both records, according to the latest mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
 
The CDC report stating this statistic was also released on August 19, 2009.

It is titled “Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2007” (pdf file). Produced by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the report was based on almost 90% of all death certificates in the United States.

Authored by Jiaquan Xu, Kenneth D. Kochanek, and Betzaida Tejada-Vera, (all of the Division of Vital Statistics), the abstract to the report states: “This report presents preliminary U.S. data on deaths, death rates, life expectancy, leading causes of death, and infant mortality for 2007 by selected characteristics such as age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin.”

The report can also be accessed from the CDC Website, under the title: “Life Expectancy Reaches New High: New report shows death rates reach all-time low. (PDF Version (1 MB))

Page two contains some of the major findings of the CDC report.