Life Expectancy the Year You Were Born

Well before U.S. deaths from the coronavirus pandemic reached more than a million, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted an equally sobering milestone: Life expectancy at birth dropped to 77 years in 2020, a decrease in the average lifespan of nearly two years from 2019. Further, life expectancy continues to shorten — dropping by nearly a full year in 2021 to 76.1, marking the steepest drop since World War II, according to updated CDC estimates.

If you're wondering what life expectancy was the year you were born and how it’s changed, the numbers going back to 1940 tell the tale.

Related: Can You Guess the Minimum Wage the Year You Were Born?

Overall life expectancy: 62.9

Women: 65.2

Men: 60.8

The United States began the ’40s on an upswing, with life expectancy up sharply from 58.5 years in 1936, when the nation was still struggling with the economic devastation of the Great Depression. The ’40s would also bring significant public-health landmarks, including the mass production of penicillin and the DTP shot, which combined the pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. 

Related: Things We Can Learn From the Great Depression

Overall life expectancy: 64.8

Women: 66.8

Men: 63.1

Overall life expectancy: 66.2

Women: 67.9

Men: 64.7

Overall life expectancy: 63.3

Women: 64.4

Men: 62.4

Life expectancy dropped almost three years from 1942 to 1943. Though World War II may have driven a decline, a change in how life expectancy was calculated beginning in 1948 may have made the drop look more dramatic than it really was, scholars say.

Overall life expectancy: 65.2

Women: 66.8

Men: 63.6

Overall life expectancy: 65.9

Women: 67.9

Men: 63.6

Overall life expectancy: 66.7

Women: 69.4

Men: 64.4

Overall life expectancy: 66.8

Women: 69.7

Men: 64.4

Overall life expectancy: 67.2

Women: 69.9

Men: 64.6

Overall life expectancy: 68

Women: 70.7

Men: 65.2

1949 marked the first year women’s life expectancy eclipsed 70 — a milestone men would not reach for another three decades. Experts have long documented that women tend to outlive men, attributing the difference to several factors. Among them: Men take more risks, are less likely to seek medical care, and are more likely to die of heart disease and suicide. 1949 was also the last time the U.S. saw an outbreak of smallpox.

Overall life expectancy: 68.2

Women: 71.1

Men: 65.6

Overall life expectancy: 68.4

Women: 71.4

Men: 65.6

Overall life expectancy: 68.6

Women: 71.6

Men: 65.8

Overall life expectancy: 68.8

Women: 72

Men: 66

Overall life expectancy: 69.6

Women: 72.8

Men: 66.7

Overall life expectancy: 69.6

Women: 72.8

Men: 66.7

In 1955, a nationwide push to inoculate children against polio began after trials found Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine was safe and effective. New polio cases dropped to less than 6,000 in 1957 from 58,000 in 1952.

Overall life expectancy: 69.7

Women: 72.9

Men: 66.7

Overall life expectancy: 69.5

Women: 72.7

Men: 66.4

Though it was nowhere near as devastating as the 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million worldwide, the flu killed more than 116,000 in the United States and 1.1 million worldwide in 1957-58.

Overall life expectancy: 69.6

Women: 72.9

Men: 66.6

Overall life expectancy: 69.9

Women: 73.2

Men: 66.8

Overall life expectancy: 69.7

Women: 73.1

Men: 66.6

By 1960, life expectancy numbers settled into a long-term pattern of slow but steady growth compared with more dramatic jumps at the beginning of the century. From 1950 to 1960, life expectancy grew 1.5 years, compared with a jump of more than five years from 1940 to 1950, more than three years from 1930 to 1940, and more than five years from 1920 to 1930.

Overall life expectancy: 70.2

Women: 73.6

Men: 67.1

Overall life expectancy: 70.1

Women: 73.5

Men: 66.9

Overall life expectancy: 69.9

Women: 73.4

Men: 66.6

Overall life expectancy: 70.2

Women: 73.7

Men: 66.8

The U.S. government made waves in 1964 when the surgeon general released a landmark report that said cigarettes caused lung and throat cancer in men, and likely caused lung cancer in women.

Overall life expectancy: 70.2

Women: 73.8

Men: 66.8

Overall life expectancy: 70.2

Women: 73.9

Men: 66.7

Overall life expectancy: 70.5

Women: 74.3

Men: 67

Overall life expectancy: 70.2

Women: 74.1

Men: 66.6

About a decade after the 1957-58 pandemic, yet another flu pandemic killed about 100,000 people in the U.S. and more than 1 million worldwide.

Overall life expectancy: 70.5

Women: 74.4

Men: 66.8

Overall life expectancy: 70.8

Women: 74.7

Men: 67.1

Life expectancy was relatively flat in the ’60s, rising less than a year from 1960 to 1970. Women added about 18 months to their lifespans, while men added only half a year. The ’60s also brought three significant vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella, which were eventually combined into the MMR shot in 1971. 

Overall life expectancy: 71.1

Women: 75

Men: 67.4

Overall life expectancy: 71.2

Women: 75.1

Men: 67.4

Overall life expectancy: 71.4

Women: 75.3

Men: 67.6

Overall life expectancy: 72

Women: 75.9

Men: 68.2

Overall life expectancy: 72.6

Women: 76.6

Men: 68.8

Overall life expectancy: 72.9

Women: 76.8

Men: 69.1

Overall life expectancy: 73.3

Women: 77.2

Men: 69.5

Overall life expectancy: 73.5

Women: 77.3

Men: 69.6

Overall life expectancy: 73.9

Women: 77.8

Men: 70

Overall life expectancy: 73.7

Women: 77.4

Men: 70

A particularly deadly flu season again was to blame for the drop in life expectancy in 1980, the nation’s first since 1968.

Overall life expectancy: 74.1

Women: 77.8

Men: 70.4

Overall life expectancy: 74.5

Women: 78.1

Men: 70.8

Overall life expectancy: 74.6

Women: 78.1

Men: 71

Overall life expectancy: 74.7

Women: 78.2

Men: 71.1

Three years after the CDC identified the first-known cluster of AIDS cases in the U.S. in 1981, researchers determined the cause of the disease: HIV. The first commercially available HIV test would become available in 1985, and the first antiretroviral to fight HIV followed in 1987.

Overall life expectancy: 74.7

Women: 78.2

Men: 71.1

In 1985, New York became the first state to require drivers to wear seat belts or risk a fine. Every state but New Hampshire eventually followed suit. In the early ’80s, seat belt use was only about 14%; today, it’s about 90%.

Overall life expectancy: 74.7

Women: 78.2

Men: 71.2

Overall life expectancy: 74.9

Women: 78.3

Men: 71.4

This year marked a major milestone for the fight against heart disease, when lovastatin became the first such cholesterol-lowering drug approved for commercial use in the U.S. Several other statins followed, including familiar names such as atorvastatin (perhaps better known as Lipitor).

Overall life expectancy: 74.9

Women: 78.3

Men: 71.4

Overall life expectancy: 75.1

Women: 78.5

Men: 71.7

Overall life expectancy: 75.4

Women: 78.8

Men: 71.8

Overall life expectancy: 75.5

Women: 78.9 

Men: 72

Overall life expectancy: 75.8

Women: 79.1 

Men: 72.3

Overall life expectancy: 75.5

Women: 78.8

Men: 72.2

In 1993, the U.S. notched its first significant decline in life expectancy since 1980, a blip that experts attributed to several factors: AIDS, a deadly flu season, and high accidental-death and murder rates for the year.

Overall life expectancy: 75.7

Women: 79 

Men: 72.4

Overall life expectancy: 75.8

Women: 78.9 

Men: 72.5

Overall life expectancy: 76.1

Women: 79.1 

Men: 73.1

Overall life expectancy: 76.5

Women: 79.4 

Men: 73.6

Overall life expectancy: 76.7

Women: 79.5

Men: 73.8

Overall life expectancy: 76.7

Women: 79.4 

Men: 73.9

Overall life expectancy: 76.8

Women: 79.7 

Men: 74.3

Overall life expectancy: 77

Women: 79.5 

Men: 74.3

Overall life expectancy: 77

Women: 79.6

Men: 74.4

Overall life expectancy: 77.6

Women: 79.7

Men: 74.5

Overall life expectancy: 77.5

Women: 80.1 

Men: 75

Overall life expectancy: 77.6

Women: 80.1

Men: 75

Overall life expectancy: 77.8

Women: 80.3 

Men: 75.2

Overall life expectancy: 78.1

Women: 80.6

Men: 75.5

Overall life expectancy: 78.2

Women: 80.6 

Men: 75.6

Overall life expectancy: 78.5

Women: 80.9 

Men: 76

Overall life expectancy: 78.7

Women: 81 

Men: 76.2

Overall life expectancy: 78.7

Women: 81.1

Men: 76.3

Overall life expectancy: 78.8

Women: 81.2

Men: 76.4

Overall life expectancy: 78.9

Women: 81.3

Men: 76.5

Overall life expectancy: 78.7

Women: 81.1

Men: 76.3

In 2015, life expectancy backed off from its 2014 peak of 78.9. Several factors were at play, researchers say, including an increasing number of midlife deaths from the opioid crisis.

Overall life expectancy: 78.7

Women: 81.1

Men: 76.2

Overall life expectancy: 78.6

Women: 81.1

Men: 76.1

Overall life expectancy: 78.7

Women: 81.2

Men: 76.2

Overall life expectancy: 78.8

Women: 81.4

Men: 76.3

Overall life expectancy: 77

Women: 79.9

Men: 74.2

The U.S. recorded a more than one-year drop in life expectancy after the coronavirus outbreak evolved into a pandemic in early 2020. Researchers express optimism that the number would rebound, but noted that deaths disproportionately affected communities of color.

Overall life expectancy: 76.1

Women: 79.1

Men: 73.2

On average in 2021, life expectancy for men fell much quicker than women, widening a gap that had been growing over the past decade. The CDC also noted that white people saw more deaths from COVID-19 in the second year of the pandemic than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S. The increased mortality rate resulted in white people experiencing the second-biggest decline in life expectancy, down one year to 76.4.