Total Number of Excess Deaths >14.7 Million in U.S. in 1980 to 2023

U.S. mortality rose rapidly in 2020 and 2021, then declined in 2022 and 2023, remaining higher than in 2019

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, May 29, 2025 (HealthDay News) — There were 14,735,913 excess deaths in the United States during 1980 to 2023 compared with other high-income countries (HICs), according to a research letter published online May 23 in JAMA Health Forum.

Jacob Bor, S.D., from the Boston University School of Public Health, and colleagues assessed trends in excess U.S. deaths before (1980 to 2019), during (2020 to 2022), and after (2023) the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic using all-cause mortality data for the United States and 21 other HICs from the Human Mortality Database.

The analysis included 107,586,398 deaths in the United States and 230,208,265 deaths in other HICs from 1980 to 2023. Compared with other HICs, the researchers estimated that 14,735,913 excess deaths occurred in the United States in this period. During the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, U.S. mortality rose rapidly, then declined in 2022 and 2023. In other HICs, the pandemic-era mortality surge was less pronounced. Before and during the pandemic, relative differences between the United States and other HICs widened, especially among younger adults, before contracting in 2022 and 2023. Comparing the United States with the average of other HICs, the age-standardized mortality rate ratios were 1.20, 1.28, 1.46, and 1.30 in 2010, 2019, 2021, and 2023, respectively. The rising trend in excess U.S. deaths before 2020 continued during the pandemic; excess deaths in 2023 were lower than in 2020 to 2022 but were higher than in 2019 and consistent with the slope established from 2014 to 2019.

“These deaths reflect not individual choices, but policy neglect and deep-rooted social and health system failures,” senior author Andrew Stokes, Ph.D., also from the Boston University School of Public Health, said in a press release. “The COVID-19 pandemic exposed structural weaknesses — including gaps in health care access and social supports — that have continued to fuel premature deaths even after the acute phase of the pandemic ended.”