ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - For the first time in more than a century, Missouri had more people die in a year than there were babies born. The state released details showing the largest increase in deaths were caused by COVID-19, homicides, opioids and unintentional poisonings.
Data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services shows that due to the increased mortality, the life expectancy for an average Missouri resident decreased by 2.1 years in 2020 – from 77.4 years in 2019 to 75.3 years. That's the lowest life expectancy in Missouri since 1994.
It's also less than the national average life expectancy in 2020, which is 77.3 years.
Related
Not only did the COVID-19 pandemic take a major toll on Missourians last year, but many other leading causes of death in the state increased as well. Among those were homicides (28.4%), opioids (25.4%), unintentional poisonings (21.6%), firearms (14.3%), Nephritis & nephrosis (13.4) and Pneumonia & influenza (13.2%).
You can see the full stats, here:
Also in Missouri, male life expectancy decreased by 2.3 years from 74.6 in 2019 to 72.3 years in 2020. Female life expectancy decreased by 1.9 years from 80.3 in 2019 to 78.4 years in 2020. The difference in life expectancy between the two genders increased to 6.1 years, the largest difference since 1997.
Click here, to see the full report from the Missouri health department.
Last year, the nation suffered from the largest one-year drop in life expectancy since World War II. The dip of 1.5 years was the greatest single-year drop since 1943 saw a 2.9 year decrease.
Related
© 2021 KMOX (Audacy). All rights reserved
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Follow KMOX
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram