CDC says life expectancy down as more Americans die younger due to suicide and drug overdose

(CBS News, November 29)Increases in suicides and drug overdoses nationwide have caused American life expectancy to go down, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A baby born in the U.S. in 2017 is expected to live approximately 78 years and 7 months, a one month decrease from 2016.

In 2017, there were 2.8 million deaths in the country – an increase of about 70,000 over 2016. This is the highest number of deaths in a single year since the government began counting.  There were over 70,000 drug-related overdose deaths in 2017, about a 10 percent increase from 2016.

"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," Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC's director, said in a statement. Read more.