U.S. death rates for adults aged 25-44 rose 71% in a decade

Death rates for Americans aged 25 to 44 increased by 71.2% between 2010 and 2021, marking the largest surge among any age group. According to research by Dr. Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, published in The Milbank Quarterly, this rise is driven by a combination of external causes and increasing rates of chronic diseases.

While drug overdoses, suicides, and homicides remain significant contributors—with overdose death rates multiplying sevenfold since 1999—the study highlights a growing mortality crisis linked to early-onset conditions. These include hypertensive disease, endocrine and metabolic disorders, alcoholic liver disease, neurologic diseases, and genitourinary diseases.

As a result of these trends, U.S. life expectancy ranked 38th in 2023 among countries with populations over one million. The United States trails several high-income nations and many developing countries, with 60 nations reporting a lower risk of death before age 40 than the U.S. Experts suggest that issues regarding healthcare access, affordability, and prevention may be contributing factors to this widening gap.