--- title: US Life Expectancy Reaches Record High: CDC description: Americans can expect to live longer as the leading causes of death—heart disease and cancer—become a little less deadly canonical: https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-08T11:46:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:30.447Z article:section: Health og:title: US Life Expectancy Reaches Record High: CDC og:description: Americans can expect to live longer as the leading causes of death—heart disease and cancer—become a little less deadly og:url: https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbeb9b848683e2a98/69875f3d428a9e5738cc4605/birthrate-united-states.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Baby Friendly hospital Shady Grove Adventist og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: US Life Expectancy Reaches Record High: CDC twitter:description: Americans can expect to live longer as the leading causes of death—heart disease and cancer—become a little less deadly twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbeb9b848683e2a98/69875f3d428a9e5738cc4605/birthrate-united-states.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Can Now Expect to Live Longer Than Ever > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=50674ad5-49de-4db1-b181-7844216d2003&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now [Watch (HLS stream): A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJFYIrvP.m3u8) (3:13)  _Published 2014-08-20. A practicing sex therapist in New York City, Dr. Shirley Zussman has witnessed everything from the legalization of the contraceptive birth control pill to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s to the rise of internet porn in the new millenium._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 8, 2014 11:46 AM UTC  A three-day old baby girl at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, in Rockville, Maryland, Sept. 5, 2014. A three-day old baby girl at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, in Rockville, Maryland, Sept. 5, 2014. Evelyn Hockstein—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Oct 8, 2014 11:46 AM UTC A child born in America today will live longer than at any other time in history, according to a [new government report](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db168.htm) that forecasts average life expectancy for the U.S. population at 78.8 years. Life expectancy for people born in 2012—the latest year researched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—was 0.1 years longer than it was in 2011\. Women can expect to live to 81.2 years, while men can expect to live to 76.4 years. The infant mortality rate decreased 1.5% in 2012 to a historic low of 597.8 infant deaths per 100,000 live births, the CDC said. Eight of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. became less deadly in 2012, with death rates for heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza and kidney disease all reduced between 2011 and 2012\. Suicide rates, however, did climb significantly. “Much of the recent improvement in death rates and life expectancy for population groups examined can be attributed to reductions in death rates from major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases,” the CDC said. ## Transcript [00:00] Sexual pleasure is only one part of what men and [00:03] women want from each other. They want intimacy, they [00:07] want closeness, they want understanding, they want [00:10] comfort, they want fun, and they want somebody who [00:14] really cares about them beyond going to bed with [00:16] them, and I think people are always seeking that. In [00:20] every generation. [ MUSIC ] [00:23] My name is Shirley Zussman. I just reached a hundred [00:27] years of age, and I am a practicing [00:32] sex therapist. I was invited with my husband [00:36] to a lecture in New Jersey, in 1966. Masters [00:41] and Johnson were the speakers. No body knew about [00:43] them. Human sexual response had just been [00:46] published, what I saw was a couple [00:51] who will say that people had problems in an area [00:55] in their lives that was very important and they were [00:58] recognizing that it was all not just. Glamorous and [01:01] wonderful to be sexual. One had to almost had to [01:05] learn how to be a good partner and to endure the [01:08] pleasure not only for yourself but for each other. And I [01:11] thought we can do that. Why can't we do that? And we [01:15] applied for training with Masters and Johnson at that [01:17] time. The patients that came to us were people who [01:21] read the paper. The only way they do anything about [01:25] the work that was being done there. And the problems [01:28] they came with, was somewhat different than the [01:30] problems they come with today. Mostly, women came [01:33] because would put out orgasmic, they didn't know how [01:36] to achieve an orgasm, but they wanted one. It [01:40] was so over that ,. Goal they had for themselves and [01:43] how do I get there. That was one Masters and [01:47] Johnson's contribution that there was a relatively [01:51] simple way to start learning about your body. In [01:55] other words, get, get to know your, who you are [01:58] sexually and physically and that was. And [02:03] encouragement for masturbation for learning what [02:06] makes you feel good. I [02:12] see a big change in the we view casual sex. [02:17] In the 60's I think it was not just casual it was frantic. [02:21] I'm shocked at the lack of connection with people; [02:25] because of iPhones, even I love my iPhone. There [02:30] is so much less actual physical connection, there's [02:34] less touching, there's less talking, there's less holding, [02:38] there's less looking, [ INAUDIBLE ]. People get pleasure [02:41] from looking at each other. But the most common [02:43] problem, I would say, in the sex therapy [02:49] that I live in, is a lack of desire. You have to look [02:53] at your priorities. You have to decide what is important [02:57] to make you feel good about yourself and your life. [02:59] And to help make your partner feel good and to [03:03] establish something that is gratifying that really fills [03:07] a need that we all have to be close to somebody. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/"},"headline":"Americans Can Now Expect to Live Longer Than Ever","datePublished":"2014-10-08T11:46:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:30.447Z","description":"Americans can expect to live longer as the leading causes of death—heart disease and cancer—become a little less deadly","url":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/","keywords":["Aging"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbeb9b848683e2a98/69875f3d428a9e5738cc4605/birthrate-united-states.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbeb9b848683e2a98/69875f3d428a9e5738cc4605/birthrate-united-states.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Baby Friendly hospital Shady Grove Adventist","caption":"A three-day old baby girl at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, in Rockville, Maryland, Sept. 5, 2014.","creditText":"Evelyn Hockstein—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/aging/","name":"Aging"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/","name":"Americans Can Now Expect to Live Longer Than Ever"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A 100-Year-Old Sex Therapist on Having Good Sex, Then and Now","description":"A practicing sex therapist in New York City, Dr. Shirley Zussman has witnessed everything from the legalization of the contraceptive birth control pill to the AIDs epidemic in the 1980s to the rise of internet porn in the new millenium.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uJFYIrvP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-20T13:40:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uJFYIrvP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/","duration":"PT3M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3481226/life-expectancy-record/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```