Americans are living longer than ever and infant mortality rates have dropped to their lowest level on record, federal health officials said Wednesday.
The overall life expectancy in the United States reached a record high of 76.9 years in 2000, while the number of infant deaths fell to 6.9 for every 1,000 live births, down from 7.1 in 1999, according to a government report.
The life-expectancy figure means a person born in 2000 can expect to live nearly 77 years.
And people alive in 2000 who already had reached an age where there was less risk of dying from accidents, homicides or AIDS can expect to live even longer than 77 years. However, as they become older, they are more susceptible to age-related diseases.
The increases in life expectancy were attributed to decreases in deaths from heart disease and cancer; heart disease deaths have been dropping since 1950, while mortality from cancer began to decrease in 1990.
