American life expectancy reached an all-time high of 79 years in 2024

America’s life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2024, the U.S. life expectancy overall was 79 years, an increase of 0.6 years from 2023.

Men had a life expectancy of 76.5 years, almost 5 years less than women, whose life expectancy in 2024 was 81.4 years, according to the report from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

“It’s pretty much good news all the way around,” Robert Anderson from the National Center for Health Statistics told The Associated Press.

The new high mark surpassed the 78.9-year average achieved in 2014. The 2024 life expectancy for women matched 2019, while men saw the highest life expectancy since 2014, when it was also 76.5 years.

2024 also saw COVID-19 continue to decline as an overall factor in people’s deaths after contributing to a dip in overall life expectancy earlier in the decade. COVID-19 fell out of the top 10 causes of death and came in 15th.

The top three causes of death are still heart disease, cancer and unintentional injury, which includes overdosing on drugs. The overall death rates for all three causes declined between 2023 and 2024.