Murder Rates Drop To All Time Low

For the first time since 1965, murder is not one of the leading causes of death in America, according to the CDC.

Homicide was bumped out of the number 15 spot by pneumonitis, a respiratory illness commonly seen in the elderly.

And that's just the first piece of good news in the 2010 annual Mortality Rate Report compiled by the Center for Disease Control.

Death rates for heart disease and cancer continued to decline in 2010, but the diseases remained the number 1 and 2 causes of death in the U.S.

The infant mortality rate dropped to a record low of 6.14 deaths per 1,000 live births.

And the best news of all, a child born in 2010 can expect to live to the ripe old age of 78 years and 8 months. About a month longer than a child born in 2009.

The other five leading causes of death; stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, accidents, flu/pneumonia, and blood infections, also dropped in 2010.

The bad news; kidney disease, chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and Parkinson's disease rates increased in 2010, as did the rate of death from Alzheimer's disease, which is the nation's sixth leading cause of death.