A new government report finds that Americans are living longer than ever, thanks, experts say, to a healthier, more active lifestyle among older men and women.

Life expectancy in the United States is now nearly 78 years, up from 77.7 a year ago, according to a report issued yesterday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figures are drawn from reviews of nearly 90 percent of the nation’s 2007 death certificates, as analyzed by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

The report found that both men and women are living to record-high ages, with women still outliving men by about five years, a gap that hasn’t changed from last year. However, the gap between white and black life expectancy narrowed by nearly a half-year. For the first time, life expectancy for black males reached 70.2 years, although that is still less than that of white males, whose life expectancy in 2007 was 75.8 years. White women are living to 80.7 years, compared with 77 years for black women.

Life spans rising for a decade

Americans’ life spans have been increasing for a decade, rising from an average 76.5 years in 1997 to 77.9 in 2007. Part of that increase is due to declining rates of death among most of the leading causes of death, including heart disease and cancer. But doctors also say the trend reflects the fact that people are staying active as they age.

“We’re not just living longer, we’re more independent and functional in our later years. Our active life span has been increasing even more rapidly than just our longevity—that’s the good news behind this report,” says Gary Kennedy, M.D., director of geriatric psychiatry at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y.

Kennedy also is encouraged by the longer life expectancy for African American men. “It means some of the health disparities between the races are starting to diminish.”

What’s not apparent in the government data, Kennedy notes, is that Americans are quickly reaching a point where “people are going to be active to the very end of life.” What that means, in terms of the current health care debate as well as for future policy planning, “is that seniors more and more are going to be productive consumers and a resource, not a drain, on the country.”

Far more important than medical breakthroughs, which come slowly, says Kennedy, are efforts to push back the disabling effects of aging and disease through diet, exercise and remaining intellectually and socially engaged. “No one expects to live forever, but we do expect doctors to help us stay independent as long as possible,” he adds.

United States still lags behind other countries

Although the United States is slowly working its way toward a life expectancy of 85—what Kennedy calls “the magic number,” as far as researchers are concerned—the nation’s life span still lags behind many other countries. According to the World Health Organization, in 2007 more than a dozen countries had life expectancies of 81 years or more, including Japan (83); Australia, Iceland and Italy (82); and France, Israel, Singapore and Spain (81).

Living longer, cheating death

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