U.S. Has Higher Excess Death Rate Than Other High-Income Countries

TUESDAY, May 12, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- From 1999 to 2022, the United States had substantially higher death rates than other high-income countries (HICs), according to a study published online May 8 in JAMA Network Open.Jacob Bor, Ph.D., from the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues examined causes of death responsible for excess U.S. mortality compared to other HICs in a repeated cross-sectional study that included mortality data from the World Health Organization Mortality Database spanning 1999 to 2022 for the United States and 17 other HICs.In the United States, there were 63,547,318 deaths from 1999 to 2022. The researchers found that 12,675,646 excess U.S. deaths occurred during this period, with an increase from 346,166 to 905,159 from 1999 to 2022. The leading causes of excess U.S. deaths every year except 2010 were circulatory diseases, increasing after 2001 for those aged 45 to 64 years and after 2009 for those aged 65 years or older. In 2022, circulatory and metabolic diseases accounted for 52 percent of excess U.S. deaths. From 1999 to 2022, there was an increase in excess U.S. deaths due to drug poisonings, alcohol, and suicide, from −5,762 to 131,151; these three causes accounted for 24 percent of the increase in excess U.S. deaths overall and most of the increase among those aged 0 to 44 years."Despite similar access to advanced medical technology, the U.S. has experienced persistently higher death rates than other HICs, possibly driven by differences in health, economic, and social policy," the authors write.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

U.S. Has Higher Excess Death Rate Than Other High-Income Countries

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