(September 12, 2007)--Americans are living longer than they used to, but not as long as people in more than three dozen other countries.

According to the most recent government figures available, from 2005, the life expectancy for Americans is up to nearly 78 years.

That's longest in US history.

The National Center for Health Statistics says US life expectancy at birth inched up to 77.9 from the previous record of 77.8 in 2004.

The increase was more dramatic in contrast with 1995, when life expectancy was 75.8.

In 1955, it was 69.6.

But the number of deaths rose from 2004 to 2005, a year after dropping by 50,000.

And, the United States continues to lag behind at least 40 other nations.

The tiny country of Andorra, in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, has the longest life expectancy, at 83 and a-half years.

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