ife expectancy fell in the US in 2021 for the second 12 months in a row to its lowest level since 1996, driven by COVID-19 deaths, in keeping with provisional government data published Wednesday.

The nearly one-year decline from 2020 to 76.1 years marked the most important two-year drop in life expectancy at birth in near a century, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found.

Disparity in life expectancy between men and ladies also widened last 12 months to the best in over twenty years, with men now expected to live 73.2 years, nearly six fewer years than women.

Deaths from COVID-19 contributed to half of the general decline in life expectancy last 12 months, with drug overdoses and heart disease also major contributors, the info showed.

COVID-19 was related to greater than 460,000 U.S. deaths in 2021, in keeping with the CDC.

In 2020, U.S. life expectancy saw its biggest one-year drop since World War Two, with COVID-related deaths contributing nearly 75% to the decline.

“Mortality’s been slightly higher in 2022 than it was in 2020, so I believe it’s likely that we’d see perhaps a slight increase in life expectancy,” said Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Nonetheless, life expectancy this 12 months will likely not return to pre-pandemic levels, and rather a lot rides on what happens toward the top of the 12 months as deaths typically rise during winter months, Anderson said.

While deaths from suicide had decreased in 2020, they were the fifth biggest contributor to the drop in overall life expectancy last 12 months. Suicide-related deaths were the third leading contributor of the decline in life expectancy for men.

The information represents early estimates and has several limitations, the agency noted, including the difference within the time taken by various jurisdictions in submitting death certificates.