OBJECTIVE This report presents period life tables for the United States based on age-specific death rates for the period 1999-2001. These tables are the most recent in a 100-year series of decennial life tables for the United States. METHODS This report presents complete life tables by age, race (white and black), and sex. Also presented are standard errors of the probability of dying and life expectancy. The data used to prepare these life tables are population estimates based on the 2000 decennial census, deaths occurring in the United States to U.S. residents in the 3 years 1999-2001, counts of U.S. resident births in the years 1997-2001, and population and death counts from the Medicare program for years 1999-2001. RESULTS In 1999-2001, life expectancy at birth was 76.83 years for the total U.S. population, representing an increase of 27.59 years from a life expectancy of 49.24 years in 1900. Between 1900 and 2000, life expectancy increased by 40.08 years for black females (from 35.04 to 75.12), by 35.54 years for black males (from 32.54 to 68.08), by 28.89 years for white females (from 51.08 to 79.97), and by 26.51 years for white males (from 48.23 to 74.74).