US Life Expectancy Record
The age-adjusted US death rate dropped roughly 3% from 2005 to 2006 — reaching an all-time low of 776 deaths per 100,000 individuals — according to a CDC review of national mortality data (pdf file here).
Deaths due to either influenza or pneumonia saw the biggest decline, a 13% drop.
Mortality from other leading causes — for example, chronic lower respiratory diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and essential hypertension or hypertensive renal disease — also fell significantly.
Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, and homicide saw drops in mortality, but these did not reach significance.
Life expectancy at birth reached a record high of 78.1 years, up 0.3 years from 2005.
“US Death Rate Hit Record Low in 2006,” Physician’s First Watch