(Washington) The life expectancy of Americans is one and a half years shorter in 2020 than in the previous year, with a fall of 75 years, often associated with the Govt-19 epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which released provisional data last July, the life expectancy of Americans at birth has increased from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77 years in 2020.
COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States by 2020, with 350,000 deaths – behind heart disease and cancer.
The life expectancy gap between men and women has also widened, from 5.1 years in 2019 to 5.7 years in 2020 (74.2 years for men and 79, 9 years for women in 2020).
The data comes after estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, which shows that the U.S. population has grown at the slowest rate in 2021.
COVID-19 infection has accelerated a fundamental course with fewer births and more deaths.
Between July 2020 and July 2021, according to the Census Bureau, U.S. population growth was only 0.1%.
The U.S. population is now approximately 331.9 million.
“Population growth has been slow for many years due to declining birth rates and declining international migration, while the death rate has been rising due to the country’s aging population,” Christie Wilder, a population analyst with the Census Bureau, was quoted as saying in a statement.
“With the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, this compound has resulted in a historically slow growth rate,” he added.
Success and failure states
Another effect of the epidemic is that some states, especially in the West, have gained populations, while in the Northeast, urbanization has lost.
Texas thus, at absolute value, recorded strong growth (+ 1.1%), mainly thanks to the 170,000 people who came from another state and chose to settle there.
Idaho attracted nearly 49,000 new people from another state and recorded strong growth compared to its population (+ 2.9%).
In contrast, New York State has a population of less than 20 million (-1.6%). More than 352,000 people have chosen to leave the state and move to another country.
The federal capital Washington has recorded the largest population decline in percentage (-2.9%).
These figures are an estimate based on data from the 2020 Decade Census, as well as birth and death certificates and immigration figures.
The 2020 census was plagued on the one hand by the epidemic and on the other by the controversial methodological changes demanded by former President Donald Trump.
This data is needed to allocate tens of billions of dollars in federal funds to the electoral divisions of 50 U.S. states and to schools or hospitals in particular. It also helps determine the weight of each state in the House of Representatives.
