A sharp decline in drug overdose fatalities and a reduced toll from COVID-19 pushed the overall U.S. death rate to its lowest point on record last year, federal data shows.
The provisional figures, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, reveal that the national death rate fell 4.6 percent in 2025. The rate dropped to 689.2 deaths per 100,000 people, down from 722.1 in 2024, with declines recorded across every age group and nearly all tracked demographic groups, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Farida Ahmad, a CDC health scientist and co-author of the report, told the publication that a continued drop in drug overdose deaths served as the primary driver behind the record low.
However, the report also highlighted a significant resurgence in respiratory illnesses. Influenza and pneumonia re-entered the nation’s top 10 leading causes of death for the first time since 2020, climbing from 11th to eighth place across all age groups. The category accounted for 56,511 deaths in 2025, up from 48,139 the previous year.
Public health experts point to a combination of severe viral strains and declining immunization compliance to explain the shift. The 2024-25 flu season resulted in an estimated 51 million illnesses and 45,000 deaths, while the 2025-26 season started early due to a fast-spreading strain known as subclade K, which was poorly matched to that year’s vaccine.
Geeta Sood, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told The Wall Street Journal that the severity of flu seasons naturally fluctuates based on viral mutations, but pointed to a broader erosion of trust in immunizations.
Sood said that she and other epidemiologists were witnessing a growing amount of disinformation regarding vaccine risks and benefits, which they believed was the predominant reason for the lack of vaccination.
The trend comes amid shifting federal health policies under the Trump administration.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has rolled back traditional vaccine advocacy campaigns. The administration also attempted to eliminate the CDC recommendation that all children over six months old receive an annual flu shot — a policy change currently blocked by a federal judge but under expedited appeal by the administration.
The rising threat of respiratory illness recently prompted a policy reversal within the U.S. military.
Following an outbreak among recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, the military reinstated flu vaccine mandates for certain service members last week. The decision came two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had eliminated the annual flu shot requirement for all military personnel.
