Death in the United States, 2009

Abstract

Mortality in the United States is best summarized by the age-adjusted death rate--a measure that accounts for changes in the age distribution of the population. This rate has declined in an almost uninterrupted manner since 1960. The death rate is now 45 percent lower than in 1960 (declining from 1,339.2 per 100,000 standard population in 1960 to 741.0 in 2009). Although age-adjusted mortality has declined for all demographic groups over a period of many decades, long-standing gaps between black and white populations and between male and female populations have begun to narrow only since the mid-1990s. Many of the recent improvements in death rates and life expectancy for all population groups can be attributed to ongoing reductions in death rates from major causes of death, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. The figures presented in this report are based on preliminary mortality data for 2009.