U.S. Veterans Life Expectancy by Age, Sex, and Decade 1980-2019

Featuring life tables for U.S. Veterans between ages 20 and 85, segmented by sex and decade from 1980 to 2019. It was produced by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs using mortality data from the Veterans Eligibility Trends and Statistics (USVETS) system and the National Death Index.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in Veteran life expectancy by age and sex across the four decades from 1980-2019.
• Compare mortality conditions for Veterans against the general U.S. population using the included U.S. life table methodology.
• Model hypothetical cohort survival outcomes for Veterans aged 20-85 based on decade-specific mortality data.

Strengths

• Data spans four decades (1980-1989, 1990-1999, 2000-2009, 2010-2019) providing longitudinal perspective.
• Life tables are disaggregated by sex and single-year age groups from 20 to 85.
• Derived from authoritative sources: Veterans Eligibility Trends and Statistics (USVETS) and the National Death Index.

Limitations

• The dataset is limited to Veterans aged 20-85, excluding younger and older populations.
• Life tables represent hypothetical cohort calculations, not direct observations of individual lifespans.
• Data is aggregated by decade, which may obscure year-to-year mortality fluctuations.

Provenance

Source

United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Collection Method

Calculated from Veterans Eligibility Trends and Statistics (USVETS) Version 2021 and dates of death from the National Death Index.

Time Range

1980-2019.

Freshness

Data covers through 2019, with metadata last updated in February 2026.

Geography

United States.