Provisional Mortality Data — United States, 2022

The National Center for Health Statistics’ (NCHS) National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) collects and reports annual mortality statistics using U.S. death certificate data. Because of the time needed to investigate certain causes of death and to process and review death data, final annual mortality data for a given year are typically released 11 months after the end of the calendar year. Provisional data, which are based on the current flow of death certificate data to NCHS, provide an early estimate of deaths, before the release of final data. NVSS routinely releases provisional mortality data for all causes of death and for deaths associated with COVID-19.* This report is an overview of provisional U.S. mortality data for 2022, including a comparison with 2021 death rates. In 2022, approximately 3,273,705 deaths^† occurred in the United States. The estimated 2022 age-adjusted death rate decreased by 5.3%, from 879.7 per 100,000 persons in 2021 to 832.8. COVID-19 was reported as the underlying cause or a contributing cause in an estimated 244,986 (7.5%) of those deaths (61.3 deaths per 100,000). The highest overall death rates by age, race and ethnicity, and sex occurred among persons who were aged ≥85 years, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN), non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black), and male. In 2022, the four leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, and COVID-19. Provisional death estimates provide an early indication of shifts in mortality trends and can guide public health policies and interventions aimed at reducing mortality, including deaths directly or indirectly associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

NCHS analyzed provisional NVSS death certificate data for deaths occurring among U.S. residents in the United States during January–December 2022. Deaths among residents of U.S. territories and foreign countries were excluded. The number and rates of overall deaths and COVID-19–associated deaths were tabulated by age, sex, and race and ethnicity (categorized as AI/AN, non-Hispanic Asian [Asian], Black, non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic White [White], non-Hispanic persons of more than one race [multiracial], unknown, or Hispanic or Latino [Hispanic]). NCHS coded the causes of death according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, which details disease classification and the designation of underlying cause of death (1,2). COVID-19–associated death counts and rates include deaths for which COVID-19 was listed on the death certificate as an underlying or contributing cause of death.^§ COVID-19 was the underlying cause for approximately 76% (186,702) of COVID-19–associated deaths in 2022 (3). Leading causes of death were ranked by counts based on underlying cause of death (4). Age was unknown for 101 (<0.01%) decedents, and race and ethnicity were unknown for 10,086 (0.31%). The trends in deaths during the year were determined by calculating the number of deaths for each week from all causes and from COVID-19. Age-adjusted death rates were calculated for deaths overall and by sex and race and ethnicity. Crude death rates were calculated by age. The population data used to calculate death rates are July 1, 2021 estimates based on the Blended Base produced by the U.S. Census Bureau (5,6). Unless otherwise specified, rate comparisons in the text are statistically significant (p<0.05).

In 2022, approximately 3,273,705 deaths occurred in the United States (Table). The age-adjusted rate, 832.8 deaths per 100,000 standard population, represented a decrease of 5.3% from 879.7 in 2021 (7). The total number of deaths peaked during the weeks ending January 22, 2022 (85,405 deaths) and December 31, 2022 (69,664) (Figure 1). In 2022, total death rates were lowest among persons aged 5–14 years (14.8 per 100,000) and highest among persons aged ≥85 years (15,605.2), similar to patterns in 2021 (Table). Overall death rates decreased for all age groups ≥15 years from 2021 to 2022, while the death rate increased from 25.0 to 26.9 per 100,000 among persons aged 1–4 years during the same period. The changes in overall death rates for age groups <1 year and 5–14 years were not significant. Age-adjusted death rates were higher among males compared with females in 2021 (1,048.0 and 733.3, respectively) and 2022 (984.8 and 700.9, respectively); however, from 2021 to 2022, the death rates decreased 6.0% among males and 4.4% among females.

During 2022, COVID-19 was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of 244,986 deaths (61.3 per 100,000), a 47% decrease from 462,193 deaths (115.6 per 100,000) in 2021. The COVID-19–associated death rate decreased from 2021 to 2022 among age groups ≥15 years, and the rate increased for all age groups <15 years. As with deaths overall, the age-adjusted COVID-19–associated death rate among males (76.3) was higher compared with that among females (49.8).

Age-adjusted death rates differed by race and ethnicity and decreased for all groups from 2021 to 2022. Overall age-adjusted death rates were lowest among multiracial (394.2) and Asian persons (447.2) and highest among Black (1,028.0) and AI/AN (973.3) persons. COVID-19–associated death rates declined from 2021 to 2022 for all racial and ethnic groups.

During 2022, the three leading causes of death were heart disease (699,659 deaths), cancer (607,790), and unintentional injury (218,064) (Figure 2).^¶ COVID-19, listed as the underlying cause for 186,702 deaths during 2022, ranked as the fourth leading underlying cause of death. COVID-19 was the underlying cause for 5.7% of all deaths in 2022, decreasing from 12.0% (416,893 deaths) in 2021. Heart disease and cancer deaths increased in 2022 compared with 2021 (accounting for 695,547 and 605,213, deaths respectively), while deaths associated with COVID-19 decreased.