The number of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States fell by 69% from 2022 to 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This caused COVID-19 to fall from the fourth-leading cause of death in 2022 to the 10th-leading cause of death last year.
According to the report, there were more than 76,000 deaths caused or contributed to by COVID-19 in 2023, accounting for about 1.6% of the country’s total deaths. This is a significant decrease from 2022, when there were about 245,000 COVID-19-related deaths, accounting for 5.7% of the total deaths.
The report noted that while COVID-19 deaths fell across all age groups and races and ethnicities last year, people aged 85 and over still accounted for a large proportion of deaths.
While American Indians and Alaska Natives have had the highest COVID-19 death rates during the pandemic, white people had the highest death rate last year, nearly 20 per 100,000.
The findings are estimates based on death certificates in the U.S. The CDC is undergoing further analysis of the data and plans to release a final report later this year.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 deaths remain high and the virus remains a threat, especially to older people and those with underlying health conditions. However, compared to pandemic times, COVID-19 is less likely to cause severe symptoms, thanks to vaccines and widespread immunity from previous infections. The antiviral drug paxlovir can also reduce the chance of hospitalization and death.
Because immunity to COVID-19 wanes, the CDC still recommends that most people get up to date on a COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available to them this fall.
At its peak in 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. But over the past two years, the top three rankings have remained consistent, with heart disease coming in at number one, followed by cancer, and unintentional injuries such as drowning, falls and car accidents.
Deaths from heart disease fell last year, but not enough to affect the rankings. The report said about 703,000 people will die from heart disease in 2022, compared with about 681,000 deaths in 2023.
At the same time, cancer deaths will increase from more than 608,000 in 2022 to more than 613,000 in 2023.
Cancer deaths have been on a long-term decline thanks to a decline in smoking, early detection of some cancers, and improved treatment options, but a January report from the American Cancer Society found that some cancers are on the rise, including breast, kidney, pancreatic, prostate and uterine cancer, as well as liver cancer in women and colorectal and cervical cancer in young adults.
In an editorial accompanying the report, the CDC researchers said the pandemic may still be affecting some of the nation’s other leading causes of death. For example, they wrote, “increases in disease related to drug overdoses and alcohol use during the pandemic may continue to affect other leading causes of death, including unintentional injuries and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.”