New York's life expectancy falls, largest drop in the nation: CDC

NEW YORK - Life expectancy in New York dropped by more than three years in 2020.

The bombshell revelation from the CDC is that in the year 2020, New Yorkers were dying three years earlier on average, representing the largest decline in the country.

The decline dropped New York State to 15th place nationwide when it comes to how long we live.

Academics in public health had anticipated about a one-year drop in life expectancy and called the data in the CDC release a "phenomenal change."

As for the breakdown, the average life expectancy of men in New York has now dropped to 77.7 years old, ranking 19th nationally. Women are doing a lot better than men, but their average age also dropped to 80.7 years old. Coming in at 13th best across the country. The COVID-19 pandemic was the driver of the change, but academics also point out infection rates and deaths were higher in poor neighborhoods across New York City.

"We see disparities between racial and ethnic groups and the white population," says Professor Patrick Kachur who teaches at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, "we also see that New York was hit early and hit very hard by the pandemic."