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 lowe

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