Health
Life expectancy at birth by president
Years a newborn would live if current mortality patterns held. Driven by medicine, behavior and shocks (opioids, COVID) over long horizons.
78.9 years latest, 2024
Source: World Bank, via FRED SPDYNLE00INUSA. Annual data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.
Since 1980, life expectancy ranged from 73.6 years in 1980 under Jimmy Carter to 78.9 years in 2024 under Joe Biden. Of the 8 completed terms with data, life expectancy rose fastest under Joe Biden, at +0.48 years/yr against −0.39 years/yr in the four years before, and fell fastest under Donald Trump (1st term), at −0.39 years/yr against −0.05 years/yr in the four years before.
By presidential term
Life expectancy at birth, term by term: every term lined up from inauguration on one chart.
Value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change. The second column is the rate of change over the four years before the term: the trend they inherited. Remember the lag: a term's first year mostly reflects the previous one's policies.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–now | no data | no data |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | 77.0 years → 78.9 years +0.48 years/yr | −0.39 years/yr |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | 78.5 years → 77.0 years −0.39 years/yr | −0.05 years/yr |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | 78.0 years → 78.5 years +0.06 years/yr | +0.14 years/yr |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | 76.6 years → 78.0 years +0.18 years/yr | +0.15 years/yr |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | 75.6 years → 76.6 years +0.13 years/yr | +0.21 years/yr |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | 74.8 years → 75.6 years +0.21 years/yr | +0.05 years/yr |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | 73.6 years → 74.8 years +0.14 years/yr | +0.19 years/yr |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | 72.9 years → 73.6 years +0.19 years/yr | +0.43 years/yr |
More health indicators
Events that bear on this indicator
- Mar 11, 2020 ShockCOVID-19 declared a pandemic. Lockdowns push unemployment to 14.8% in April 2020.
- Mar 23, 2010 LawAffordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
- Dec 8, 2003 LawMedicare Part D created. The Medicare Modernization Act adds an unfunded prescription-drug benefit, starting 2006.