Life expectancy fell 1.5 years in 2020 across the US, but three years for African Americans and Latinos

The life expectancy of americans fell by a year and a half in 2020, according to the federal public health agency that cites the coronavirus pandemic as one of its causes.

That trend was accentuated in black and Hispanic minorities, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The life expectancy of Americans at birth fell from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.3 years in 2020, the shortest since 2003.

For African-Americans, life expectancy fell 2.9 years from 74.7 years in 2019 to 71.8 years in 2020. Among Latinos it fell in three years: from 81.8 years in 2019 it fell to 78.8 in 2020.

The most severe decline was recorded among men of Hispanic origin, who lost 3.7 years of life expectancy at birth, which is 90% explained by the covid pandemic.

Another incident factor is the increase in deaths from drug overdoses, a crisis that occurred before the coronavirus but has worsened during the pandemic. More than 90,000 people died from overdoses in 2020, a number never seen before and linked to increased opioid use during the pandemic.

From 2014 to 2018, life expectancy in the United States decreased as a result of overdoses of synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl.