Life expectancy improved in Iowa before COVID-19
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Iowa's life expectancy is 79.4 years, according to a new report from the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute. That's a slight increase from 79.2 years recorded by the CDC three years ago.
- Sioux County had the state's highest projection (83.9 years), while Montgomery had the lowest (75.8).
Yes, but: The recent report uses prepandemic data from 2017-2019, so COVID-19 and a recent spike in opioid deaths aren't yet fully reflected in the data.
Why it matters: We may actually be headed in the wrong direction. U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, according to the CDC. It's the largest one-year decline since World War II, the AP reports.
- And Black Americans' life expectancy dropped by nearly three years, to 71 years and 10 months.
Zoom in: Iowa's obesity rate also rose during the pandemic, according to CDC data we told you about last month.
The big picture: A study published last month in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that life expectancy dropped in dozens of countries last year due to COVID-19.