US life expectancy reached 78 years

The US National Center for Health Statistics reported on Wednesday that the average of the US life expectancy has risen up to 78 years.

However, the United States continues to lag behind about 30 other countries in estimated life span. For example, Japan has the longest life expectancy - 83 years.

The report found that the number of deaths and the overall death rate dropped from 2006 - to about 760 deaths per 100,000 people from about 776. The death rate has been falling for eight straight years, and is half of what it was 60 years ago.

Heart disease and cancer together are the cause of nearly half of U.S. fatalities. The death rate from heart disease dropped nearly 5% in 2007, and the cancer death rate fell nearly 2%, according to the report. The HIV death rate dropped 10%, the biggest one-year decline in 10 years.