LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The average life expectancy fell across the United States in recent years, with some states, including Kentucky, seeing more significant declines than others.
Using data from the CDC, the Forbes Advisor Life Insurance team analyzed each state's average life expectancy and calculated the percentage change from 2018 to 2021 (the most recent year for which state-level data is available).
The new study by Forbes Advisor found that the average life expectancy in Kentucky fell by 3.98%. That is the tenth-most significant decline nationwide.
Life expectancy in Kentucky dropped from 75.3 years in 2018 to 72.3 years in 2021.
Overall, Kentucky has the fifth shortest average life expectancy among all U.S. states (72.3 years).
The top five leading causes of death in Kentucky are heart disease, cancer, accidents, chronic lower respiratory disease and Covid-19.
Despite Kentucky having slightly more women than men, fatal accidents were nearly twice as common among men than women from 2018 to 2022, with 12,111 deaths among men and 6,577 deaths among women.
Women are expected to live longer in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia. The average expected life expectancy gap between women and men is 5.7 years.
For more information on the Forbes Advisor life expectancy in the U.S. study, click here.
