US Death Rates Fell In 2023, With COVID-19 Dropping To Tenth Leading Cause Of Death, CDC Data Show

The AP (8/8) reports, “U.S. death rates fell last year for all age groups compared with 2022, federal health officials said Thursday,” with COVID-19 falling “to the 10th leading cause of death,” down from fourth in 2022. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data also showed the “leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer and a category of injuries that includes gun deaths and drug overdoses.” CNN (8/8, McPhillips) reports the drop in COVID-19 deaths “helped the overall death rate in the United States fall 6% in 2023.” While the country’s death rate “has been dropping quickly since reaching a pandemic-high” in 2021, the new CDC data “suggests the death rate is still well above pre-pandemic years.” Additionally, while “all racial and ethnic groups also saw death rates decrease last year,” the overall death rate among Black people remained the highest. NBC News (8/8, Bendix) reports Americans “ages 85 and up still represented an outsized share” of COVID-19 deaths in 2023. Furthermore, white people had the highest COVID-19 death rates at “nearly 20 out of every 100,000 people.”