US Life Expectancy at Birth

## What this measures

Life expectancy at birth in the United States, in years.

## Why it matters

The broadest single measure of whether a society is keeping its people alive. US life expectancy stalled after 2014 and fell sharply in 2020–21.

## How to read it

Annual, dated December 31 of the reference year. Compare countries by trend, not by single years.

## What it does not say

A period measure: it describes current mortality, not how long today's newborns will actually live.

## Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators (`SP.DYN.LE00.IN`), via api.worldbank.org. CC BY 4.0.