US Life Expectancy Goes up for br the First Time Since 2014 Life expectancy in the United States has reached br a new high in 2018, according to a report from br the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. The spike is largely attributed to br a decrease in deaths from cancer br and drug overdoses. The findings indicate that the life expectancy br for babies born in 2018 has increased to br 78.7 years from 78.6 years for those born in 2017. The report also showed br an increase in suicide and br flu death rates in 2018. A separate report concluded that br the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy br among high-income countries.