A new analysis published on medRxiv reveals that life expectancy in the U.S. continues to decline.

In 2021, life spans decreased by another 0.4 years.

In 2020, life expectancy decreased by 1.9 years as COVID-19 spread throughout the country.

Researchers believe the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines help curb mortality rates in 2021.

However, slow vaccine update and spread of the delta variant “produced large surges in mortality.”

Before the pandemic, life expectancy in the U.S. only changed by less than 0.1 years on average each year, according to CDC data.

Another year-to-year change that researchers observed was who was affected by the changing life expectancy.

In 2020, Black and Hispanic people were hit hardest by the decline.

In 2021, life expectancy among Black Americans actually increased, but only slightly.

It was mostly unchanged among Hispanics.

The country now marks its lowest life expectancy in 25 years, with the overall life expectancy sitting at 76.6 years of age.