The US provisional death rate fell 4.6% in 2025, with heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries remaining the leading causes of mortality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The age-adjusted death rate fell to 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people from 722.1 a year earlier, continuing a steady decline since the rate peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
The decrease was partly due to a sustained decline in fatal drug overdoses, which are grouped under unintentional injuries or accidents, Farida Ahmad, lead author of the study, said.
However, the number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia rose 17% to 56,511 in 2025, making it the eighth leading cause of mortality in the country from 11th a year ago, the provisional report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics said.
"The flu season, especially in January and February of 2025, was severe, leading to a lot of flu deaths," Ahmad said.
Severe flu seasons in the past had been linked to rising deaths from chronic diseases, and may also have been a factor in the roughly 1.6% increase in heart disease deaths in 2025, Ahmad added.
Seasonal flu-related hospitalizations and outpatient visits reached a 15-year high during the 2024-25 season, according to the agency.
Death rates rose among American Indians
The death rate among American Indian and Alaska Native people rose to 803.8 per 100,000 people, and increased to 746 for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people.
At 869 per 100,000 people, the mortality rate for Black Americans improved slightly but it remained the highest of all groups. The rate for Asian people was about flat.
The mortality rate for white Americans, who accounted for about 74.5% of all the deaths recorded, fell to 724.2 per 100,000.
The CDC cautioned that the findings are based on provisional death certificate data and could change as additional records are processed. Some causes of death, particularly unintentional injuries, are reported with longer delays and may ultimately be revised higher.
The agency also noted that differences in reporting timeliness across states, potential misclassification of race and ethnicity on death certificates, and changes in Census population estimates could affect some comparisons.
