U.S. Life Expectancy Reaches New Record

nytimes.com — For the first time, U.S. life expectancy has surpassed 78 years, the government reported Wednesday. The increase is due mainly to falling mortality rates in almost all the leading causes of death. However, the U.S. continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span. Japan is No. 1 on the list. Jun 11, 2008 View in Crawl 4