New York experiences sharpest drop in life expectancy out of all 50 states and DC, new CDC data shows

New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tuesday showed New York experienced the largest drop in life expectancy in the nation for its residents in 2020. 

The life expectancy for New Yorkers dropped by 3% from an average age of 80.7 in 2019 to 77.7 in 2020. 

The shocking 3-year drop represented the sharpest decrease between the years out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the CDC’s new National Vital Statistics Report. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Hawaii saw the smallest decline in life expectancy in 2020 – just .2% from 80.9 years to 80.7 years.

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In 2020, the Empire State placed 15 nationwide for life expectancy – Hawaii came in first regarding where people lived the longest – about 80.7 years, while Mississippi ranked last with a 71.9 average. 

Every state in the country and Washington, D.C., experienced a drop in life expectancy in 2020, mainly due to the sudden introduction of COVID-19 and “unintentional injuries,” such as drug overdoses, according to the report. But experts only anticipated a 1-year decline in New York, describing the 3-year drop in life expectancy as a “phenomenal change,” according to FOX 5 NY. 

“New York was hit early and hit very hard by the pandemic,” Patrick Kachur, a professor at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, told FOX 5.  “We see disparities between racial and ethnic groups and the white population.”

The difference in life expectancy between the sexes in the U.S. was 5.7 years in 2020, ranging from a high of 7.0 years in D.C. to a low of 3.9 years in Utah, according to the report. 

States with the lowest life expectancy at birth were mostly southern states, while states with the highest life expectancy at birth were predominantly western or northeastern, according to the CDC.