ATLANTA (CNN) -- The prospect of a long life awaits almost every newborn. And in the United States, the chance of making it to old age is at an all-time high, a 1997 national health profile shows.

A new baby can expect to live 76.5 years. Many, of course, will live far longer because the average life span includes those who die along the way, said the report for the National Center for Health Statistics and Johns Hopkins University.

But the fragile first year is claiming fewer lives. The infant mortality rate was down from 7.2 deaths per live births in 1996 to 7.1 deaths in 1997.

Premature death by accident, disease and neglect was down, too, removing more of the hazards along the way to old age.

"We've had a reduction of more than 35 percent of overall deaths from non-intentional injuries in the last couple of decades," said Dr. Bernard Guyer of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. "On the other hand, unintentional injuries remains the leading cause of death in childhood."

Cars and guns pose a greater threat to children than cancer or germs. About 7,500 died in car crashes and another 4,000 in firearms mishaps before their 20th birthdays.

"We think that a lot of those are preventable if we did more as a society, if we made sure that children were protected when they're passengers in cars, pedestrians on the street and also they're protected from firearms," Guyer said.

In adulthood, disease becomes more of a factor, but medical progress is helping to buy extra years for more people.

Survival improved in four of the five top causes of death. Only death by emphysema worsened, with a 2 percent increase in deaths.

AIDS, though not among the top killers, showed a 47 percent decrease in deaths last year.

"If you look at the health of the population overall, part of that health is related to what goes on in the medical sector; part of it is related to what goes on in social policy," Guyer said. "You have to have both of those working together."

• Birth rates for women 40 years and older continue to increase, while birth rates among teen-agers fell for the sixth consecutive year.
• In the teen-age population, homicide and suicide rates fell after increasing in recent years. Among 15- to 19-year-olds, murder accounted for 18 percent of all deaths and suicide accounted for 13 percent of deaths.

The health report is published in the journal Pediatrics.

Medical Correspondent Dan Rutz and Reuters contributed to this report.