Americans Are Living Longer Than Ever Before As Death Rates Fall

According to a new government report, Americans are living longer as death rates fall. Rates also dropped for nearly all the leading causes of death. However, the suicide rate reached its highest point in 25 years and it’s not clear as to why that figure has been increasing. A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday looked at deaths in 2012. It found the U.S. life expectancy for a child born in 2012 was a record of just under 79 years, which is six weeks more than the past two years. For someone who is 65, the CDC found that men have about 18 years of life left and women have about 20 1/2 years. These gender gaps have been growing slightly compared to 2011. The CDC report also found that the infant mortality rate dropped slightly to a new low of 5.98 per 1,000 births. It's an historic low, but the U.S. infant mortality rate is still higher than most European countries. The CDC will continue to compile information from all U.S. death certificates so researchers can use the death rates to project how long people will live.