Older folks who might otherwise have left us decided to hang on to life a little longer. |
The most striking aspect of the data this year was the intensity or volume of the decreases. This is the largest single-year decrease in the raw numbers of deaths that we've seen since the 1940s. |
The trends in age-adjusted death rates we expected because we've been seeing an increase in life expectancy for some years now. |
We really don't know -- we can't pin it down. |
We were surprised by the sharpness of the decrease. It's kind of historical. |
We were surprised. We were scratching our heads. Something of this magnitude is really out of the ordinary. |