The death rate in the United States returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 as Covid-19 fell out of the top 10 leading causes of death, according to a report published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid-19 quickly rose to the third leading cause of death in the US in the first two years of the pandemic, pushing the age-adjusted death rate up to a peak of about 880 deaths for every 100,000 people in 2021. The overall US death rate has fallen about 18% since then, and last year’s 4% drop brought the US death rate down to the lowest it’s been since 2019.

There were 722 deaths for every 100,000 people in the US in 2024 – nearly 3.1 million deaths overall – according to the provisional, age-adjusted data from the CDC. Final mortality data may change, but t

See Full Page