Senior Citizens See More Time Added to Life
Expectancy in New CDC Report
Life expectancy at birth in 2009 Jumps to 78.2
years, death rates in US hit all time low
March
17, 2011 - Life expectancy for the average 65-year-old senior citizen
has increased by one-tenth of a percent. This senior male has 17.3 years
left but not as much as the female, who has 20 more years, according to
preliminary 2009 death statistics released yesterday by CDC's National
Center for Health Statistics.
Life expectancy at birth
increased to 78.2 years in 2009, up slightly from 78.0 years in 2008,
The other favorable news is that the age-adjusted death rate for the
U.S. fell to an all-time low of 741 deaths per 100,000 people in 2009 -
2.3 percent lower than the 2008 rate
►
This marks the 10th year in a row that U.S. deaths rates have declined.
►
Life expectancy was up two-tenths of a year for males (75.7 years) and
up one-tenth of a year for females (80.6 years).
►
Life expectancy for the U.S. white population increased by two-tenths of
a year.
►
Life expectancy for black males (70.9 years) and females (77.4 years)
was unchanged in 2009. The gap in life expectancy between the white and
black populations was 4.3 years in 2009, two-tenths of a year increase
from the gap in 2008 of 4.1 years.
The findings come from
"Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2009," which is based on death
certificates provided to NCHS through the National Vital Statistics
Reporting System from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S.
territories.
Other findings:
● Age-adjusted death rates
declined significantly for 10 of the 15 leading causes of death in 2009:
> heart disease (declined by 3.7
percent),
> cancer (1.1 percent),
> chronic lower respiratory diseases
(4.1 percent),
> stroke (4.2 percent),
> accidents/unintentional injuries
(4.1 percent),
> Alzheimer's disease (4.1 percent),
> diabetes (4.1 percent),
> influenza and pneumonia (4.7
percent),
> septicemia (1.8 percent), and
> homicide (6.8 percent).
● In 2009, suicide passed
septicemia (blood poisoning) to become the 10th leading cause of death.
Although the U.S. suicide rate did not change significantly between 2008
and 2009, the number of suicides increased from 35,933 in 2008 to 36,547
in 2009 (1.7 percent increase). Deaths from septicemia declined 1
percent from 35,961 in 2008 to 35,587 in 2009. Otherwise, the rankings
for the 15 leading causes of death did not change between 2008 and 2009.
● Overall, there were
2,436,682 deaths in the United States in 2009 – 36,336 fewer than in
2008 (1.5 percent decrease).
March
17, 2011 - Life expectancy for the average 65-year-old senior citizen
has increased by one-tenth of a percent. This senior male has 17.3 years
left but not as much as the female, who has 20 more years, according to
preliminary 2009 death statistics released yesterday by CDC's National
Center for Health Statistics.
