NOTES: Estimates are based on provisional data for 2021. Provisional data are subject to change as additional data are received. Estimates for 2020 are based on final data. Life tables by race and Hispanic origin are based on death rates that have been adjusted for race and Hispanic-origin misclassification on death certificates; see Technical Notes in this report.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality."

"Effect on life expectancy of changes in cause-specific mortality

Increases or decreases in life expectancy represent the sum of positive and negative contributions of cause-specific death rates. Declines in cause-specific mortality contribute to increases in life expectancy, while increases contribute to decreases in life expectancy. If the negative contributions (increases in cause-specific death rates) are greater than the positive contributions (decreases in cause- specific deaths rates), then the result is a decline in life expectancy. If negative and positive contributions offset each other, then there would be no change in life expectancy (see Technical Notes for a description of the partitioning method). The decline of 0.9 year in life expectancy between 2020 and 2021 was primarily due to increases in mortality due to COVID-19 (50.0% of the negative contribution), unintentional injuries (15.9%), heart disease (4.1%), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3.0%), and suicide (2.1%) (Figure 4). The decline in life expectancy would have been even greater were it not for the offsetting effects of decreases in mortality due to influenza and pneumonia (38.5%), chronic lower respiratory diseases (28.8%), Alzheimer disease (18.3%), perinatal conditions (6.3%), and Parkinson disease (2.3%)."