How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?

A baby born in the US in 2018 could expect to live 78.7 years, up from 47.3 in 1900. The sharpest drop was in 1918, to 39.1 years, during the influenza pandemic. This CDC dataset stops at 2018; later NCHS reports put life expectancy at 78.4 years in 2023 and 79.0 in 2024, after a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Key facts

Measure: Life expectancy at birth, years. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2018, is 78.7.
  • That is up 66% from 47.3 in 1900.
  • The highest was 78.9 in 2014.
  • The lowest was 39.1 in 1918.

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How to read this chart

Each point is how long a baby born in that year could expect to live, if death rates stayed as they were that year. It is an average, so it is pulled down a lot when many babies and young people die. Hover or tap a point to read its year and value.

Questions to discuss

  1. Find the sharpest drop on the chart. What happened in the world that year?
  2. Life expectancy in 1900 was under 50. Does that mean most adults died in their 40s? What else could lower the average?
  3. What changes in medicine, food or public health could explain the long rise?

Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Death rates and life expectancy at birth
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Death rates and life expectancy at birth, https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/NCHS-Death-rates-and-life-expectancy-at-birth/w9j2-ggv5 (data as of December 31, 2018). https://chart.ly/charts/us-life-expectancy (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Life expectancy at birth, years
1900 47.3
1901 49.1
1902 51.5
1903 50.5
1904 47.6
1905 48.7
1906 48.7
1907 47.6
1908 51.1
1909 52.1
1910 50
1911 52.6
1912 53.5
1913 52.5
1914 54.2
1915 54.5
1916 51.7
1917 50.9
1918 39.1
1919 54.7
1920 54.1
1921 60.8
1922 59.6
1923 57.2
1924 59.7
1925 59
1926 56.7
1927 60.4
1928 56.8
1929 57.1
1930 59.7
1931 61.1
1932 62.1
1933 63.3
1934 61.1
1935 61.7
1936 58.5
1937 60
1938 63.5
1939 63.7
1940 62.9
1941 64.8
1942 66.2
1943 63.3
1944 65.2
1945 65.9
1946 66.7
1947 66.8
1948 67.2
1949 68
1950 68.2
1951 68.4
1952 68.6
1953 68.8
1954 69.6
1955 69.6
1956 69.7
1957 69.5
1958 69.6
1959 69.9
1960 69.7
1961 70.2
1962 70.1
1963 69.9
1964 70.2
1965 70.2
1966 70.2
1967 70.5
1968 70.2
1969 70.5
1970 70.8
1971 71.1
1972 71.2
1973 71.4
1974 72
1975 72.6
1976 72.9
1977 73.3
1978 73.5
1979 73.9
1980 73.7
1981 74.1
1982 74.5
1983 74.6
1984 74.7
1985 74.7
1986 74.7
1987 74.9
1988 74.9
1989 75.1
1990 75.4
1991 75.5
1992 75.8
1993 75.5
1994 75.7
1995 75.8
1996 76.1
1997 76.5
1998 76.7
1999 76.7
2000 76.8
2001 77
2002 77
2003 77.6
2004 77.5
2005 77.6
2006 77.8
2007 78.1
2008 78.2
2009 78.5
2010 78.7
2011 78.7
2012 78.8
2013 78.8
2014 78.9
2015 78.7
2016 78.7
2017 78.6
2018 78.7

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