Life Expectancy in America Hits Record High

The average life expectancy for Americans is 77.6 years, a record high according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC released the numbers Monday. Life expectancy is calculated based on mortality in 2003, the most recent year for which substantially complete data is available.

The new CDC report also shows that the gender gap is closing. The difference between life expectancy in men and women (who live longer) closed from 5.4 years in 2002 to 5.3 years in 2003. The gap as 7.8 years in 1979.

The report, "Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2003," was prepared by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Among the conclusions were record-high life expectancies in several categories:

White males - 75.4 years
Black males - 69.2 years
White females - 80.5 years
Black females - 76.1 years

Hawaii had the lowest, or best mortality rate while Mississippi had the highest.

Positive numbers

Age-adjusted death rates declined for eight of the 15 leading causes of death, including the two leading causes of death: heart disease (down 3.6 percent) and cancer (down 2.2 percent). Strokes were off 4.6 percent and suicide was down 3.7 percent.

For decades, heart disease was the nation's top killer. Cancer took its place for Americans 85 and younger as of 2002, according to a separate report released in January.

Some other encouraging findings:

Firearm mortality dropped nearly 3 percent between 2002 and 2003.

The preliminary age-adjusted death rate for HIV declined 4.1 percent between 2002 and 2003, continuing a downward trend observed since 1994.

Age-adjusted death rates from alcohol dropped 4.3 percent and the rate for drug-related deaths fell 3.3 percent over the previous year.

Mortality rates climbed, however, for Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, hypertension, and Parkinson's disease, which entired the top 15 for the first time.

The leading causes of death For Americans in 2003

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Rank	Cause	Deaths
1	Heart disease	684,462
2	Malignant neoplasms	554,643
3	Cerebrovascular diseases	157,803
4	Chronic lower respiratory diseases	126,128
5	Accidents	105,695
6	Diabetes mellitus	73,965
7	Influenza and pnemonia	64,847
8	Alzheimer's disease	63,343
9	Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, nephrosis	42,536
10	Septicemia	34,243
11	Suicide	30,642
12	Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis	27,201
13	Essential hypertension and hypertensive renal disease	21,841
14	Parkinson's disease	17,898
15	Pneumonitis due to solids and liquids	17,457

LiveScience Chart / SOURCE: CDC

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Robert is an independent health and science journalist and writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a former editor-in-chief of Live Science with over 20 years of experience as a reporter and editor. He has worked on websites such as Space.com and Tom's Guide, and is a contributor on Medium, covering how we age and how to optimize the mind and body through time. He has a journalism degree from Humboldt State University in California.