STAT

Life expectancy in the U.S. is falling — and drug overdose deaths are soaring

From 2014 to 2016, death rates tied to drug overdoses soared 18 percent each year.
Women attend a candlelight vigil during the FED UP! Coalition's annual International Overdose Awareness Day event in Washington in August. A new CDC report estimates 63,600 people died of drug overdoses in 2016.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen for the second year in a row, the first time it’s dropped for two consecutive years in more than half a century.

People born in the U.S. in 2016 could expect to live 78.6 years on average,

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