That life expectancy is more than a half-year longer than it was in 2023 and great than in any prior year going back to 1900. “The rise in life expectancy is welcome news, and it is good to see that it was widespread across race, ethnicity and gender,” says Philip Cohen, a sociologist and demographer at the University of Maryland, College Park. For instance, in most other developed countries, the life expectancy in 2024 was in the low to mid-80s, according to the United Nations. It should not be big news when the life expectancy rises, which happens every year in every other developed country,” Cohen says, adding that U.S. infant mortality showed no change in 2024. “And overall…, the U.S. has a shockingly low life expectancy,” he says.