The US death rate declined more than 2% between 2008 and 2009, from a rate of 758.7 to 741 per 100 000 population, reaching an all-time low, according to an analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The decrease was driven in part by significant declines in death rates for 10 of the 15 leading causes of death in the United States. The death rates from heart disease declined 3.7%; cancer, 1.1%; chronic lower respiratory disease, 4.1%; stroke, 4.2%; unintentional injury, 4.1%; Alzheimer disease, 4.1%; diabetes, 4.1%; influenza and pneumonia, 4.7%; septicemia, 1.8%; and homicide, 6.8%.