‘BASICALLY CATASTROPHIC’

Life Expectancy for Black Americans Takes Worst Hit Since Great Depression

In 2020, life expectancy for Black Americans tumbled by nearly three years.

Life expectancy for Black Americans fell further in 2020 than in any year since the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression. The shocking figure, confirmed Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that Black life expectancy suffered a hit of nearly three years, falling to 71 years and 10 months. Life expectancy among Latino Americans also tumbled by nearly three years—down to 78 years and 10 months—while white life expectancy fell by 14 months, down to 77 years and 7 months. Overall, U.S. life expectancy suffered its biggest one-year decline since World War Two, according to the Associated Press. Health officials said the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame for the vast majority of the fall, but drug overdoses and increasing homicides also contributed. Mark Hayward, a University of Texas sociology professor who specializes in U.S. mortality, told AP that the sudden decline was “basically catastrophic.”