US Life Expectancy Drops 1.5 Years, Driven by COVID-19 Pandemic

Gilberto Arias, 15, (R) and Javier Dominguez, 13, place flowers on the casket of Gilberto Arreguin Camacho, 58, who died due to COVID-19, during his burial service at a cemetery in Whittier, Calif., on Dec. 31, 2020. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Life expectancy in the United States dropped by a year and a half in 2020 from a year earlier, government researchers said on July 20.

The decrease of life expectancy to 77.3 years from 78.8 years was largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has devastated America and many other countries.