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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters.

Life Health > Annuities > Fixed Annuities

U.S. Mortality Surge Hit People Ages 35-44 Hardest in 2021: CDC

By Allison Bell

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What You Need to Know

  • The final 2021 life expectancy decrease figure was smaller than the provisional decrease estimate released in August.
  • The total number of U.S. deaths in 2021 was 610,448 higher than the 2019 total of 2.8 million.
  • For people ages 25 through 64, the 2021 death total was 223,927 higher than the 2019 total of 677,494.

The overall U.S. death rate continued to climb in 2021, and the increase in mortality was especially hard on people ages 35 through 44, according to final mortality figures for the year from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC recorded 124,939 deaths of people in the 35-44 age group in 2021.

The actual number of deaths of people in that age group was 19.6% higher than in 2020, and 50.6% higher than the total for 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

For the entire U.S. population, the CDC recorded 3.46 million deaths in 2021. That was up 2.4% from the 2020 total, and up 21.5% from the 2019 total.

What It Means

Financial professionals who are helping working-age clients plan for mortality and longevity risk can not assume that pandemic-related death is just a problem for older people.

Since the pandemic started, the increase in the number of deaths of U.S. residents ages 65 and older has been larger. But the percentage increase in the death rate has been much bigger for U.S. residents ages 25 through 64 than for older U.S. residents.

The Big Picture

The total 2021 U.S. age-adjusted death rate was 879.7 deaths per 100,000 people. That compares with a death rate of 835.4 in 2020, and a death rate of 715.2 in 2019.

Overall life expectancy at birth fell to 76.4 years, from 77 years in 2020, and from 78.8 years in 2019.

For a look at how death rates for U.S. residents in different age groups changed from 2019 through 2021, see the table below.

Working-Age People

For people in four age groups who could be classified as being of working age — the 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 age groups — the total number of 2021 deaths was 901,421.

That was up from 11% from the 2020 working-age death total, and up 33% from the 2019 total.

The United States has about 170 million residents ages 25 through 64. The 2021 mortality figures mean that people ages 25 through 64 had roughly a 1 in 189 chance of dying from any cause that year, up from a 1 in 254 chance of dying from any cause in 2019.

Causes

The age-adjusted COVID-19 death rate increased to 104.1 per 100,000 people in 2021, from 85 in 2020, and none in 2019.

COVID-19 ranked third as a cause of death in 2021, behind cancer and heart disease, but ahead of unintentional injuries and stroke.

The age-adjusted death rate for heart disease, for example, increased to 173.8 per 100,000 people, from 168.2 in 2020 and 161.5 in 2019. The increase in heart disease and cancer death rates could be due to factors unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19, as well as efforts to prevent and treat COVID-19, may have had an indirect effect on figures for deaths attributed to other causes by making other conditions worse; causing what appear to be unrelated conditions, such as strokes; hurting the economy; increasing people’s social isolation; and reducing people’s ability to get care for conditions other than COVID-19.

U.S. Death Rates, by Age Group

Deaths per 100,000 people in AGE GROUP Change
.. .. 2019 ..2020 ..2021 ..From 2020 ..From 2019
..1–4  .... ..23.3.. ..22.7.. ..25.0.. ..10.1%.. ..7.3%..
..5–14 .... ..13.4.. ..13.7.. ..14.3.. ..4.4%.. ..6.7%..
..15–24.... ..69.7.. ..84.2.. ..88.9.. ..5.6%.. ..27.5%..
..25–34.... ..128.8.. ..159.5.. ..180.8.. ..13.4%.. ..40.4%..
..35–44.... ..199.2.. ..248.. ..287.9.. ..16.1%.. ..44.5%..
..45–54.... ..392.4.. ..473.5.. ..531.0.. ..12.1%.. ..35.3%..
..55–64.... ..883.3.. ..1038.9.. ..1,117.1.. ..7.5%.. ..26.5%..
..65–74.... ..1,764.60.. ..2072.3.. ..2,151.3.. ..3.8%.. ..21.9%..
..75–84.... ..4,308.30.. ..4997.. ..5,119.4.. ..2.4%.. ..18.8%..
..85 and over .... ..13,228.60.. ..15210.9.. ..15,743.3.. ..3.5%.. ..19.0%..
Source: The CDC’s Mortality in the United States, 2021 and Mortality in the United States, 2019 reports...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta. (Photo: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock)

Allison Bell

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