Life expectancy in America dropped by more than a year due to COVID-19 deaths in 2020. A study released Thursday found that the devastating disease caused 336,000 fatalities in the U.S. according to researchers at the University of Southern California and Princeton.

The new average life expectancy is now estimated to be 77.48 years. The life expectancy in 2019 was estimated to be 78.85 years. The 2020 figures represent the lowest life expectancy in the country since 2003, and the largest decline in 40 years, according to Science Daily.

The researchers found that the decline in life expectancy at birth was even starker for minority populations. They projected that Blacks would suffer a 2.19-year shorter lifespan and Latinos’ lives would be reduced by 3.05 years. For whites, the reduction is smaller — 0.68 years — bringing their average life expectancy to 77.84 years, says Science Daily.

“Our study analyzes the effect of the exceptional number of deaths on life expectancy for the entire nation, as well as the consequences for marginalized groups,” study authors Theresa Andrasfay, of the University of Southern California and Noreen Goldman of Princeton University's Office of Population Research, wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Some reduction in life expectancy may persist beyond 2020 because of continued COVID-19 mortality and long-term health, social, and economic impacts of the pandemic,"  Andrasfay added, according to CNN.

According to the New York Post, Goldman said the shocking decline in Latinos’ life expectancy, who generally have a lower mortality rate than whites, revealed the social and economic disparity among ethnic groups. 

“The bigger reductions in life expectancy for the Black and Latino populations result in part from a disproportionate number of deaths at younger ages for these groups,” said Goldman, according to the Post. During the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic, life expectancy dropped by 12 years as young adults, who are usually unaffected by these types of infectious diseases, were among the hardest hit groups.