"Anyone familiar with the way the US handled the viral outbreak - especially compared to similar countries - might not be surprised. But while the pandemic certainly contributed to a spike in deaths, expectations of a return to pre-pandemic mortality rates were smashed as number crunchers noticed a larger trend that was decades in the making. Alarmingly, the data trickling in was indicating a disproportionate rise in deaths among young Americans aged 25 to 44, encompassing millennials and some older members of gen Z."
"Prior to 2010, the authors write, life expectancy for the average millennial-aged adult in America had been ticking steadily upward, thanks to a drop-off in deaths from diseases like HIV and cancer, homicide, and cardiovascular disease. After 2010, however, this trend began to stall, as drug overdoses, vehicular accidents, and gastrointestinal disease wiped out previous life expectancy gains."
Insurers noticed in 2023 that Americans were dying at a higher rate than peers in other high-income countries. Excess mortality rose sharply for adults aged 25 to 44, especially millennials and older Gen Z, even as deaths for other age groups began returning to pre-pandemic levels. Life expectancy gains before 2010, driven by declines in HIV, cancer, homicide, and cardiovascular deaths, stalled after 2010. The stall coincided with increases in drug overdoses, vehicular accidents, and gastrointestinal disease that erased prior improvements. About half of deaths among Americans under 65 would not have occurred if those people lived in another country.
Read at Futurism
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