Life Expectancy

Table A and Table B summarize life expectancy and survival by age, race, and sex. Life expectancy at birth for 2002 represents the average number of years, that a group of infants would live if the infants were to experience throughout life the age-specific death rates prevailing in 2002 . In 2002 life expectancy at birth was 77.3 years, increasing by 0.1 year from 77.2 years in 2001. This increase is typical of the average yearly changes that occurred during the last 30 years in the United States. Throughout the past century, the trend in U.S. life expectancy was one of gradual improvement that has continued into the new century.

Life expectancy was 74.5 years for males, increasing by 0.1 year from 74.4 years in 2001. Life expectancy for females in 2002 was 79.9 years, increasing by 0.1 year from 79.8 years in 2001. The increase in life expectancy between 2001 and 2002 for females was primarily the result of decreases in mortality from heart disease, cancer, homicide, cerebrovascular disease, and chronic lower respiratory disease. The increase in life expectancy for females could have been greater were it not for the offsetting effect of increases in mortality from accidents, Alzheimer's disease, pneumonia, perinatal conditions, and septicemia. For males, life expectancy increased primarily because of decreases in mortality from heart disease, homicide, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and HIV disease. The increase in life expectancy for males could have been greater were it not for the offsetting increases in mortality from accidents, diabetes, septicemia, perinatal conditions, and Alzheimer's disease.

The difference in life expectancy between the sexes was 5.4 years in 2002, unchanged from the previous year. From 1900 to 1975, the difference in life expectancy between the sexes increased from 2.0 to 7.8 years. The increasing gap during these years is attributed to increases in male mortality due to ischemic heart disease and lung cancer, both of which increased largely as the result of men's early and widespread adoption of cigarette smoking. Since 1979 the difference in life expectancy between the sexes has narrowed from 7.8 years to 5.4 years, reflecting proportionately greater increases in lung cancer mortality for women than for men and proportionately larger decreases in heart disease mortality among men.

Between 2001 and 2002, life expectancy for the black population rose 0.1 year to 72.3 years. For the total white population, life expectancy remained at 77.7 years. The difference in life expectancy between the white and black populations was 5.4 years in 2002, a historically record low level. The white-black difference in life expectancy narrowed from 14.6 years in 1900 to 5.7 years in 1982, but increased to 7.1 years in 1993 before beginning to decline again in 1994 (7.0 years). The increase in the gap from 1983 to 1993 was largely the result of increases in mortality among the black male population due to HIV infection and homicide.

Among the four race-sex groups, white females continued to have the highest life expectancy at birth (80.3 years), followed by black females (75.6 years), white males (75.1 years), and black males (68.8 years). Between 2001 and 2002, life expectancy increased 0.2 years for black males (from 68.6 in 2001 to 68.8 in 2002). Black males experienced an unprecedented decline in life expectancy every year for 1984-89, but annual increases in 1990-92 and 1994-2002. From 2001 to 2002, life expectancy for black females increased from 75.5 years to 75.6 years, an increase of 0.1 year. Life expectancy for white males rose 0.1 year, from 75.0 years in 2001 to 75.1 years in 2002. White female life expectancy increased during the same period by 0.1 year from 80.2 to 80.3 years. Overall, gains in life expectancy between 1980 and 2002 were 5.0 years for black males, 4.4 years for white males, 3.1 years for black females, and 2.2 years for white females.

The 2002 life table may be used to compare life expectancy at any age from birth onward. On the basis of mortality experienced in 2002, a person aged 65 years could expect to live an average of 18.2 more years for a total of 83.2 years, and a person age 100 years could expect to live an additional 2.7 years on average (table A). Life expectancy at 100 years of age, particularly for the black population, should be interpreted with caution as these figures may be affected somewhat by age misreporting.

Table A. Percent change in death rates and age-adjusted death rates between 2001 and 2002 by age, race, and sex: United States

Table B. Number of survivors by age, out of 100,000 born alive, by race and sex: United States 2002 (Race categories are consistent with the 1977 Office of Management and Budget guidelines)

Table 12: Estimated life expectancy at birth in years, by race and sex: Death-registration States, 1900-28, and United States, 1929-2002

In 1999, there were 1,468 crematories and 595,617 cremations, a percentage of 25.39% of all deaths in the United States.