WASHINGTON, D.C.-According to a report released in September 2022 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Native Americans and Alaska Natives saw the biggest life expectancy decline among all races between 2020 and 2021.
Among the total United States population, the average life expectancy for those who were born in 2021 was expected to be 76 years. This is the lowest the U.S. life expectancy has been since 1996.
Among Native Americans and Alaska Natives, the average life expectancy fell from about 67 years old in 2020 to 65 in 2021, on top of a four-year drop the year before, which brought the life expectancy to be six years shorter than determined in 2019.
One of the causes for the decline is from COVID–19 deaths, which impacted Indigenous Americans more than any other race. While more Native people were vaccinated than Black or Hispanic people, CDC revealed that Native Americans still died at higher rates than other racial groups. Besides COVID-19, however, other factors for high death rate among the U.S. Indigenous included accidental injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, suicide and heart disease.
The Indian Health Service provides health care to 1.6 million American Indian and Alaska Native people.
