The life expectancy of Hispanics in the United States
decreased three years
in 2020 - from 81.8 to 78.8 years -,
the largest drop in records
(that is, in 15 years), according to data published this Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to hit the country hard due to the rise of the delta variant, was the main reason for this decline.
But this did not affect everyone equally.
It was responsible for 90% of the increase in mortality among the Hispanic population, 68% of this increase among whites, and 59% among blacks.
[Life expectancy plummets in the United States due to the coronavirus as during World War II]
For Myriam Torres, associate clinical professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, these data are
"discouraging," she
told The Washington Post.
Despite the fact that the Hispanic population has had, and continues to have, a
higher life expectancy
(the average number of years a baby born in a given year can expect to live) than white or black Americans.
How to protect children from the danger of drowning?
88% of these tragedies occur near an adult
July 20, 202101: 44
[Find out here where, when and how you can get vaccinated where you live]
In his opinion, these data reflect how this population is exposed at work (many have not been able to telework), on public transport and at home.
Many families live in spaces where several generations coexist, factors that increase the risk of infection.
"Latinos have had an advantage in [lower] mortality for some time [...]. It was one thing we were doing well at," Torres said.
Hispanic men, main affected
The data shows that
Hispanic men
lived
3.7 years shorter
, from 79 to 75.3 years;
followed by black men, who lived 3.3 years less;
non-Hispanic black women, 2.4 years younger;
and Hispanic women, 2 years younger.
On the other hand, the life expectancy of
black people,
which fell by 2.9 years, from 74.7 to 71.8 years,
had not fallen that much in a year since the mid-1930s,
during the Great Depression.
COVID-19 Hospitalizations Rise in Several US Cities
July 20, 202103: 19
The impact of the pandemic on Hispanics and black Americans "reflects the
inequalities
that were present before the pandemic and that have to do with unequal access to health care and
racial and ethnic disparities in health in general," he
assured our sister network NBC News Irma Elo, chair of the department of sociology and research associate at the Center for Research on Aging Population at the University of Pennsylvania.
[A White House employee and an aide to Nancy Pelosi test positive for coronavirus]
The worst fall since World War II
Across the nation, hope declined by
1.5 years,
from 78.8 years to 77.3, representing
an unprecedented drop since World War II.
This steep decline is "basically catastrophic," Mark Hayward, a sociology professor at the University of Texas, told The Associated Press news agency.
Last year more than
3.3 million people died in the country,
much more than in any other year in history.
Other causes
Drug
overdoses
were another cause of the overall decline, especially among white people.
There were more than 93,000 overdose deaths.
And the rise in homicides was a small but significant reason for the decline in black Americans, said Elizabeth Arias, the report's lead author.
With information from AP, NBC News and The Washington Post.