America’s Excess Death Crisis Worsens as Over 1.5 Million Deaths Recorded in Just Two Years After COVID-19 Pandemic Ends!
Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team May 24, 2025 1 day, 11 hours, 51 minutes ago
U.S. Medical News: A disturbing new study reveals that the United States continues to experience a shocking number of premature and preventable deaths—more than 1.5 million in just 2022 and 2023 alone—even after the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. These deaths, deemed “excess deaths,” represent lives that could have been saved if the US had simply achieved mortality rates similar to those of other high-income nations. What is even concerning is that these rates are still increasing at exponential rates in 2024 and in the early months of 2025 so far.
America’s Excess Death Crisis Worsens as Over 1.5 Million Deaths Recorded in Just Two Years After
COVID-19 Pandemic Ends
The landmark study, led by researchers from Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), with collaborators from the University of Minnesota, Hunter College at City University of New York, and Cambridge Health Alliance, analyzed over four decades of mortality data. It found that America’s health crisis is far deeper and more entrenched than many realize. This
U.S. Medical News report underscores how systemic issues like drug overdoses, gun violence, car crashes, and untreated chronic illnesses have continued to push US death rates far above those of peer nations.
Four Decades of Declining Health
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Health Forum, examined age-specific death rates from 1980 through 2023 across the United States and 21 other developed nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Australia. During this period, a total of 107.5 million Americans died compared to 230.2 million deaths in the other countries combined.
However, what set the US apart was that 14.7 million of those American deaths were considered “excess”—in other words, they wouldn’t have happened if the US had the same mortality rates as these countries. The trend is particularly alarming among younger adults. In 2023 alone, death rates among Americans aged 25 to 44 were 2.6 times higher than in comparable nations.
Excess deaths peaked during the pandemic at 1.1 million in 2021, but despite the decline of the virus’s most devastating waves, the numbers remained high—820,396 in 2022 and 705,331 in 2023. That’s more than 1.5 million deaths in just two years, well above pre-pandemic levels.
A Crisis That Predates the Pandemic
While the COVID-19 pandemic drew global attention to mortality statistics, this study makes clear that America’s health struggles did not begin with the virus. Rather, the pandemic only amplified an already worsening trajectory.
"The US has been in a protracted health crisis for decades, with health outcomes far worse than other high-income countries," explained lead researcher Dr. Jacob Bor, associate professor of global health and epidemiology at BUSPH. "This longer-run tragedy continued to un
fold in the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Back in 2010, the US death rate was already 20% higher than the average of other high-income nations. By 2019, that gap had widened to 28%. During the pandemic, the gap surged to 46% in 2021 before settling at 30% in 2023—still an alarming disparity.
The Faces Behind the Statistics
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of the findings is the toll on working-age Americans. In 2023, nearly half of all deaths among those under 65 were excess deaths. That means one out of every two people who died in this age group might still be alive had the US performed as well as its peer countries.
Study co-author Dr. Elizabeth Wrigley-Field of the University of Minnesota noted, "The 700,000 excess American deaths in 2023 is exactly what you'd predict based on prior rising trends, even if there had never been a pandemic." She added that the driving forces behind these deaths are long-standing and include the opioid crisis, gun violence, fatal car accidents, and treatable health conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Dr. Andrew Stokes, senior author and associate professor at BUSPH, emphasized that these are not merely individual tragedies but systemic failures. "These deaths reflect not individual choices, but policy neglect and deep-rooted social and health system failures," he said.
Why America Falls Behind
According to the researchers, the key difference lies not in the people, but in the policies. Countries with lower death rates have made long-term investments in universal health care, public health infrastructure, social safety nets, and evidence-based policies.
Dr. Stokes explained, “Other countries show that investing in universal health care, strong safety nets, and public health leads to longer, healthier lives. Unfortunately, the US faces unique challenges—widespread public distrust of government and deep political polarization have made it difficult to adopt successful strategies used elsewhere.”
These challenges, researchers warn, may deepen. Dr. Bor pointed to the risk posed by political movements and leadership that aim to cut funding for public health programs, scientific research, environmental regulation, and safety nets.
“Deep cuts to public health and growing hostility toward science and policy-based governance threaten to widen the mortality gap even further,” Dr. Bor said. “Imagine the lives saved, the grief and trauma averted, if the US simply performed at the average of our peers.”
The Data Behind the Devastation
The researchers used data from the Human Mortality Database to analyze death rates in the US compared to those in 21 other developed countries from 1980 to 2023. By calculating how many Americans would have died if the US had the same age-specific death rates as those countries, they could estimate the number of “missing Americans.”
They also used statistical modeling to track the rate of increase in excess deaths from 2014 to 2019 and found that the 2023 excess death figure of over 700,000 was consistent with that rising trend. The implication: even without a pandemic, the US would still be losing hundreds of thousands of lives a year to entirely preventable causes.
Notably, the pandemic did not spark the crisis—it only illuminated its scale.
A Call to Action
The researchers conclude that reversing this deadly trend will require a national commitment to fixing broken systems. From reforming healthcare and expanding access, to investing in mental health, addiction treatment, and community safety programs, the solutions are well known. What’s missing is the political will and public demand to act.
In a sobering reflection, Dr. Bor stated, “Our failure to address this is a national scandal. One out of every two US deaths under age 65 is likely avoidable. That should be unacceptable in any country that calls itself advanced or developed.”
Conclusions
The findings of this study serve as a powerful indictment of the systemic failures in the American healthcare and public health systems. With more than 14.7 million preventable deaths since 1980—and over 1.5 million in just the last two years alone—the United States stands apart from its global peers not just in how people live, but in how—and when—they die. The persistent disparity, especially among younger adults, points to deep-rooted issues such as insufficient healthcare access, rampant drug and gun violence, economic inequality, and a policy environment resistant to reform. Countries with lower mortality rates have proven that national investments in public health infrastructure, universal healthcare, and preventive programs save lives. The US, by contrast, remains bogged down by political polarization, mistrust in science, and underfunded public systems. Unless there is a collective reckoning with these structural issues and a renewed commitment to evidence-based policy and health equity, the cycle of unnecessary deaths will only continue. This crisis, hidden in plain sight, demands urgent and sustained attention.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: JAMA Health Forum.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2834281
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