The mortality rate in the United States declined by 3.8% in 2024, and COVID-19 was no longer among the 10 leading causes of death, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
Using provisional death certificate data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics estimates there were 3,072,039 deaths last year, which equates to about 722 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 750.5 per 100,000 in 2023. This is the lowest death rate since 2020, the authors of the report note.
And for the first time since 2020, COVID-19 was not one of the 10 leading causes of death.
The top three causes of death were heart disease with 683,037 deaths, cancer with 619,812 and unintentional injury with 196,488. The other leading causes were stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and suicide.
Despite the overall death rate decline, deaths for both heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes, increased from 2023.
Broken down by demographics, death rates were highest for males, older adults and Black people, the data shows.
The findings are limited due to the use of provisional data, but the estimates still give “researchers and policymakers an early signal about shifts in mortality trends,” the authors said.
While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., a survey from the Cleveland Clinic earlier this year found many Americans are unaware of the risk factors, including things like tobacco use and air pollution. And the risk doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon — a 2024 report from the American Heart Association projected more than six in 10 U.S. adults, about 61%, will have some type of cardiovascular disease by 2050.
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