Michiganders born in 2021 are now expected to live 75.7 years, putting them in the bottom half of life expectancy in the U.S., according to a new analysis.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released in late August shows the life expectancy in the Great Lakes State is more than 4 years shorter than in Hawaii, where folks live the longest, and 2.3 years shorter than it was in 2019 when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office.

Like other states, women in Michigan are expected to outlive men, with the life expectancy for the former at 78.6 years, compared to 72.9 for men. Nationally, the average life expectancy is 76.4 years – 73.5 years for men and 79.3 for women.

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“Among the 50 states and District of Columbia, Hawaii had the highest life expectancy at birth, 79.9 years in 2021, and Mississippi had the lowest, 70.9 years,” according to the report. “From 2020 to 2021, life expectancy at bird declined for 39 states, increased for 11 states, and remained unchanged for the District of Columbia.

“In 2021, life expectancy at age 65 ranged from 16.1 years in Mississippi to 20.6 years in Hawaii,” the report read.

In Michigan, life expectancy at age 65 ranked 34^th nationally at 17.9 years, though the 16.5 years for men was ranked 35^th and the 19.1 years for women ranked 34^th.

Nationally, life expectancy at age 65 was 18.4 years on average in 2021.

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For 2019, Michigan’s life expectancy at birth was 78 years, according to Axios, while it was 76 years in 2020.

“With the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us, these numbers will likely improve in future reports – as earlier preliminary data suggests,” Axios Detroit reports. “Still, both COVID and drug overdoses remain serious public health challenges.”

In Michigan, where about 2,700 lost their lives to drug overdoses – many from fentanyl coming across the southern border, the CDC data on life expectancy is likely unsurprising to many residents, particularly older Michiganders foregoing medical treatment to cover the rising cost of living.

Recent findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging from the University of Michigan show in the last year “58% of older Michiganders say they’ve cut back on spending, 51% say they’ve been impacted by inflation a great deal, 57% say they have felt some or a lot of stress about their personal finances, and 15% say they’ve avoided or delayed spending on health care or health-related costs.”

An interactive data dashboard from the poll shows Michiganders aged 50 to 64, those with household incomes under $60,000, and respondents with fair or poor mental health are among the most likely to stress about spending and cut back on needed health care treatment.

A separate 2024 United for ALICE report produced by the United Way shows those struggling to get by include about 41% of residents overall, which translates into about 1.7 million out of 4 million Michigan households that could not afford basics like food, transportation, health care, housing and child care in 2022, despite many working full-time.

That percentage was 38% in 2019, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, which means “the number of households (who cannot afford a survival budget) increased from 1.5 to nearly 1.7 million” by 2022.

“This consistent trend – a growing number of households that are struggling financially, often ineligible for public assistance, and undercounted by official measures – represents a major vulnerability in our economic system,” the report read. “It also suggests that overall social and economic policies are falling short in addressing the root causes of financial instability.”

Still other reports that hint at potential factors for the decreasing life expectancy in Michigan include a Michigan Poverty & Well-being Map from UM that documents high rates of food insecurity and child poverty, an analysis that found Michiganders to be “the most financially distressed people in the country,” and the Great Lakes States’ ranking of 47^th among states for quality of life.

There was also a large number of deaths among seniors in Michigan during the pandemic, linked to COVID edicts from Whitmer that forced infected patients back into nursing homes.

While the media has parroted a death toll of 5,600 Michiganders in senior living facilities reported by the Whitmer administration, an investigation by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Charlie LeDuff suggests the real number is well over double that figure.

“The true number is more like 14,000,” LeDuff said. “That means Whitmer buried 7,000 corpses in a statistical mass grave.”

“That makes Michigan’s nursing home deaths by far the worst in America,” he said. “More than Florida, more than California, and almost as many as New York, which is twice as big and five times denser.”