The U.S. recorded its lowest death rate on record in 2025, according to new provisional data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showing declines in mortality across every age group compared to the previous year.
The CDC reported that a total of 3,094,593 deaths occurred nationwide in 2025. The country’s overall death rate fell to 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people, representing a 4.6% decrease from 2024 and marking the lowest death rate ever recorded in the United States.
According to the agency, the decline extended across all age groups. The report also found differences in age-adjusted death rates between men and women. For males, the age-adjusted death rate was 811.1 deaths per 100,000 people, while females had a rate of 582.9 per 100,000.
The CDC also released estimates showing variations in mortality rates among different demographic groups. In 2025, the multiracial non-Hispanic population had the lowest age-adjusted death rate at 187.3 deaths per 100,000 people.
Meanwhile, the black non-Hispanic population recorded the highest age-adjusted death rate among the groups listed in the report, at 869.0 deaths per 100,000 people.
The provisional data identified heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States during 2025. Cancer ranked second, while unintentional injuries rounded out the top three causes of death nationwide.
The report also highlighted how mortality rates varied significantly by age. According to the CDC, children between the ages of 5 and 14 experienced the lowest death rate, at 14.0 deaths per 100,000 people.
At the other end of the spectrum, Americans age 85 and older recorded the highest mortality rate, with 12,787.5 deaths per 100,000 people. The CDC noted that these age-related patterns were similar to those observed in 2024.
While the CDC’s provisional report focused primarily on mortality statistics, NewsNation reported that the overall decline in deaths during 2025 was driven largely by a continued reduction in fatal drug overdoses.
The release of the mortality data follows another recent CDC report examining birth trends in the United States.
According to fertility data published by the agency in April, the nation’s general fertility rate declined in 2025. The CDC reported a rate of 53.1 births per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 44, representing a 1% decrease from the previous year.
The newly released mortality figures remain provisional and provide an early snapshot of nationwide trends for 2025. Even so, the data indicate that the United States experienced a record-low overall death rate while continuing to see declines across every age category compared with the year before.
The report also underscores that heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries remained the nation’s leading causes of death, while mortality rates continued to vary by age, sex and demographic group. At the same time, the decrease in overall deaths coincided with a continued decline in drug overdose fatalities, according to NewsNation’s reporting on the CDC data.
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