U.S. Life Expectancy Improving

According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, an American can expect to live to be 77.9 years old. This projection is higher than it has ever been. Here are some additional highlights from the report:

• The life expectancy for women in the United States is 80.4 years; for men, it is 75.2 years.
  
• The gender gap is narrowing; the 5.2 years difference in 2004 was the smallest difference since 1946.
  
• Alzheimer’s disease moved into 7th place among leading killers in the U.S., passing influenza and pneumonia.
  
• Age-adjusted death rates fell to a record low of 801 deaths per 100,000 people in 2004, down from almost 833 deaths per 100,000 in 2003.
  
• Total deaths (nearly 2.4 million in 2004) declined almost 50,000 between 2003 and 2004—the biggest 1-year drop in several decades.
  
  

  Joy Keller

  IDEA Author/Presenter

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  Joy Keller is the senior editor of IDEA Fitness Journal and is also a certified personal ... more

  Joy Keller is the senior editor of IDEA Fitness Journal and is also a certified personal trainer, indoor cycling instructor, yoga teacher (RYT 200) and Reiki level 3 practitioner.

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  IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 3, Number 7
  July 2006

  © 2006 by IDEA Health & Fitness Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

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