US life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years in 2020, final official figures showed today — the steepest drop in more than 75 years driven in large part by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to AFP.

Life expectancy at birth was 77.0 years for the total US population last year, down from 78.8 years in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among men, it was 74.2 years, while for women the figure was 79.9 years. Overall, Covid-19 was the third-leading cause of death, accounting for 350,000 fatalities, just over a tenth of all registered deaths, said a CDC report, which finalised preliminary findings from July.