Life expectancy dropped in 2020
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Life expectancy nationwide is at an 18-year low, largely due to COVID-19. The average life expectancy at birth dropped 1.5 years from 78.8 in 2019 to 77.3 in 2020. This is an indicator that US health is decreasing. Here’s what else USAFacts found in this new data:
- The death rate reached 10.4 people per 1,000 people in 2020. For context, the Spanish flu pandemic resulted in a historic death rate: 13.9 people per 1,000. The death rate trended down in the decades after World War II, dropping to 7.9 people per 1,000 in 2009.
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- The age-adjusted death rate increased by 15.9% between 2019 and 2020.
- Life expectancy decreased by 3.7% for Hispanic people, falling from 81.8 years to 78.8 years. The single-year decrease was the biggest since the CDC started tracking data for the group.
For even more, including a visual breakdown of the data by race, read this report.
GDP grew 6.5% last quarter
Gross domestic product, commonly called GDP, estimates the size of the US economy. In the second quarter of 2021, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 6.5%. So, what does this growth reveal?
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- This second-quarter growth was largely due to increased consumer spending, with spending on services growing at nearly three times the rate over the first quarter of 2021.
- In dollar terms, GDP exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time, regaining the income lost during the pandemic.
- The National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the trough of the pandemic recession began in February 2020 and ended in April 2020. The two-month recession is the shortest in history.
See more about this growth here. Want to learn more about the history of measuring GDP? Check out this explainer for more background.
Nonresponses mean Census won't publish crucial data
The yearly American Communities Survey (ACS) is a vital tool for understanding the US population. The list of organizations that use ACS data is long and their uses vary: it includes federal entities like the Department of Housing and Human Services and Veterans' Affairs, state and local governments, and many, many businesses.
Low response rates mean the one-year estimates for the 2020 ACS, originally scheduled for this fall, won't be released. That could affect how US governments distribute billions of dollars and much more.
- The ACS is the premier source of information on the US population, housing, and the workforce. Here’s just a sample of what it includes: where people live, if they rent or own their home and their home’s value, their marital/education/citizenship status, whether they have health insurance, how they get to work, how long they work, and how much they spend on gas.
- With a 3-million-person sample size, the ACS is the most comprehensive government data product aside from the decennial census. However, the Census Bureau found high nonresponse rates for 2020, particularly among people with lower income, lower educational attainment, and people less likely to own their homes.
- Nonresponses skewed the data so much that the Bureau's traditional methods couldn't correct it. The absence of the one-year estimates is a loss, but holding back on their release displays a high bar for quality. The Census Bureau made the hard choice, but this is good data governance.
Learn more about the importance of the ACS and what this change could mean this year.
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Under the American Rescue Plan, filers can receive the tax credit in monthly payments or receive the entire amount with their yearly tax return. Utah had the largest average advance payment amount this year.
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