"U.S. life expectancy hits a new high of 78"

Today on Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090820/hl_nm/us_usa_lifespan_3
I found this intriguing:

Overall, 2,423,995 people died in the United States in 2007, 2,269 fewer than in 2006. [emphasis added]

"Auto deaths down 10 percent so far this year"

From today's story in the online version of the Boston Globe:

"Federal safety officials say auto fatalities dropped almost 10 percent in 2008 through October. If the trend holds up for the last two months of the year, highway deaths could reach their lowest level since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House."

"US life expectancy tops 78 as top diseases decline"

Yahoo! News had this item yesterday:

"The 2006 increase is due mainly to falling mortality rates for nine of the 15 leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, accidents and diabetes."

"U.S. Childhood Cancer Death Rate Declines Sharply"

This is from yesterday's Yahoo! News:

The cancer death rate for children in the United States has declined sharply -- down 20 percent from 1990 to 2004 -- thanks to better treatment of leukemia and other cancers, health officials said on Thursday.

...
The cancer death rate for U.S. children was 34.2 per million for children up to age 19 in 1990, but fell to 27.3 per million in 2004, the CDC said. This death rate has declined 1.7 percent per year during this period, according to the CDC.

"It's not that we're having less cancer diagnosed. The incidence rates, the new-case rates are the same. It's just that we're getting better survival," the CDC's Dr. Lori Pollack said in a telephone interview.

"'Dramatic' Fall in Measles Deaths"

This is from today's BBC News:

Measles deaths in Africa fell by 91% between 2000 and 2006, figures from the World Health Organization show. The drop, from an estimated 396,000 to 36,000, means the United Nations target to cut measles deaths by 90% by 2010 has been hit four years early.

...

Overall global measles deaths fell by 68% - from an estimated 757,000 to 242,000 - over the six year period, a WHO report showed.

Humpback Whales Come Back

Erich sent me a link to this news item about recovery in population of humpback whales. Buried in the news item is this information:

"The focus on this year's hunt is the humpback, which was in serious danger of extinction just a few decades ago. They are now a favorite of whale-watchers for their playful antics at sea, where the beasts — which grow as large as 40 tons — throw themselves out of the water.

Humpbacks feed, mate and give birth near shore, making them easy prey for whalers, who by some estimates depleted the global population to just 1,200 before the 1963 moratorium. The southern moratorium was followed by a worldwide ban in 1966...

...The American Cetacean Society estimates the humpback population has recovered to about 30,000-40,000 — about a third of the number before modern whaling. The species is listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union. [my bold]

I am on Cafe Hayek!

I emailed Don Boudreaux of Cafe Hayek and he promptly wrote up this blog here. I feel honored and hope that his readers will in turn forward news about human progress for this blog.