SUGGESTED READING # 3

Drug and suicide deaths rise as US life expectancy drops

• 29 November 2018 BBC NEWS

Life expectancy in the US has dropped once again, thanks in part to rising suicide and drug overdose rates, according to new government reports.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found nearly 70,000 more Americans died in 2017 than 2016, with rising rates of death among 25- to 44-year-olds.

Thursday's reports revealed synthetic opioid-related overdose death rates rose by 45% on average, nationwide.

Americans can expect to live just over 78 years and six months on average - a 0.1 year drop from 2016, according to the report released on Thursday.

"Tragically, this troubling trend is largely driven by deaths from drug overdose and suicide," said CDC director Robert Redfield in a statement.

"Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the nation's overall health and these sobering statistics are a wake-up call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable."

Life expectancy in the US began dropping in 2015.

Monaco and Japan currently have the longest life expectancies in the world at 89 and 85 years.

As the US grapples with an opioid crisis, overdoses claim more and more lives, the CDC report found. Drug overdose deaths accounted for 70,237 deaths last year - nearly 10% higher than in 2016 - with a significantly higher rate of death among men, compared to women.

"Economic conditions or livelihood opportunities in decline could lead people to positions where they're at risk. We need to intervene in both mental and public health cases," Dr Reed says.