# US life expectancy at birth by president, 1980–2024

Source page: https://govargus.com/indicators/life-expectancy

Years a newborn would live if current mortality patterns held. Driven by medicine, behavior and shocks (opioids, COVID) over long horizons.

Latest: 78.9 years (2024).
Source: World Bank, via FRED SPDYNLE00INUSA (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/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

Each row is the value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change, next to the rate of change over the four years before the term (the trend it inherited). A term's first year mostly reflects the previous administration's policies, and Congress, the Federal Reserve and the world economy move these numbers too. Govargus describes; it does not score presidents.

| President | Term | During term | 4 years before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Donald Trump (2nd term) | 2025–present | 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 |

## Events that bear on this indicator

- Dec 8, 2003, law: Medicare Part D created. The Medicare Modernization Act adds an unfunded prescription-drug benefit, starting 2006.
- Mar 23, 2010, law: Affordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
- Mar 11, 2020, shock: COVID-19 declared a pandemic. Lockdowns push unemployment to 14.8% in April 2020.