After peaking in 2014 at 78.9 years, US life expectancy has declined for two years running, falling to 78.7 in 2015 and 78.6 in 2016. This is the first time life expectancy has declined two years in a row since 1962 and 1963, when a very bad flu was to blame. The culprit now is almost entirely the opioid epidemic. Deaths from drug overdoses rose 21% in 2016 to 63,600.