Life expectancy for U.S. men shrank by more than two years because of COVID-19, researchers say

men seeing their life expectancy drop by 2.2 years, according to new study from Oxford University.

Life expectancy fell in 27 countries in 2020 as the coronavirus spread, with 11 nations seeing a drop of more than one year for men and eight countries experiencing the same for women, Oxford found.

The study results add to CDC findings in July that overall life expectancy for Americans fell 1.5 years in 2020, a figure that includes both men and women.

The CDC also found that life expectancy for Black Americans and Hispanic Americans last year fell even more sharply — three years — chiefly because of the virus. .

COVID-19 also reduced life expectancy for women in most of the countries that were studied, although typically women experienced a smaller decline than men

In the U.S., for instance, life expectancy for females at birth dropped by almost 1.7 years — a smaller decline than for American men

But that still represents the largest decline in life expectancy for women among any country in the study. 

In 2020, only men and women in Denmark and Norway, as well as women in Finland, did not see a drop in life expectancy, the Oxford study found.