If only the good die young, Americans are getting better.

U.S. life expectancy dipped by about a month last year from 2014, to 78.8 years, according to a report form the National Center for Health Statistics. And our life expectancy is little changed over four years, which means a trend could be in the works.

“With four years, you’re starting to see some indication of something a little more ominous,”  S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois-Chicago public health researcher, told the Associated Press.

Gender matters: For males, life expectancy fell to 76.3 years from 76.5 years. For women, life expectancy decreased to 81.2, about 0.1 year from 2014.

The culprits for our declining years were increases in mortality from heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and suicide. Not surprisingly, that group plus cancer and Alzehimer's disease make up the top 10 causes of U.S. deaths.

In most of the years since World War II, life expectancy in the U.S. has inched up, thanks to medical advances, public health campaigns and better nutrition and education.

But last year it slipped, rare for a year that did not include a major disease outbreak. Other one-year declines occurred in 1993, when the nation was in the throes of the AIDS epidemic, and 1980, the result of an especially nasty flu season.

The latest numbers technically mean that someone born in 2015 is expected to live an average of 78.8 years. Those who turned 65 in 2015 had brighter prospects, expected to live an average of another 19.4 years.

And, big picture, the news isn't all bad. Babies born in 2015 are expected to live about two years longer than babies born in 2000 were expected to live. And more than 10 years longer than your life expectancy if you joined the world in 1950.

The United States ranks below dozens of other high-income countries in life expectancy, according to the World Bank. It is highest in Japan, at nearly 84 years.

For the record, the federal report is based primarily on 2015 death certificates. There were more than 2.7 million deaths, or about 86,000 more than the previous year. The increase in raw numbers partly reflects the nation’s growing and aging population.

everywhere I look in America I see FAT FAT FAT. used to be the handicap parking spaces were reserved for cripples. now they are for diabetics and most anyone with a doctor's excuse ...