Life expectancy at birth is on the rise in the United States while the death rate is falling.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest the death rate in the United States reached a record low in 2012 and the life expectancy at birth reached a record high of 78.8.
Between 2011 and 2012 the age-adjusted death rate was found to have fallen by 1.1 percent. The infant mortality rate decreasedbetween 2011 and 2012 to a historically low rate of 597.8 infant deaths per 100,000 live births. The 10 leading causes of infant mortality remained the same in 2012 as they were in 2011.
"Life expectancy at birth represents the average number of years that a group of infants would live if the group was to experience throughout life the age-specific death rates present in the year of birth," the CDC reported.
While the 10 leading causes of death in 2012 remained the same as the year before, age-adjusted death rates in eight of these categories dropped; the only cause of death that increased in number of incidents was suicide.
In 2012 life expectancy was at 81.2 for females and 76.4 percent for males, coming to an average of 78.8 years across both demographics, but this disparity did not significantly change between 2011 and 2012. Life expectancy at 65 years for the total population was 0.1 year higher than it was in 2011.
"Much of the recent improvement in death rates and life expectancy for population groups examined can be attributed to reductions in death rates from major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases," the CDC reported.
"Although continuing declines in mortality have slowly reduced longstanding gaps in life expectancy, differences in life expectancy at birth and at 65 years between sexes persist."
