The annual number of deaths in the United States dropped by 50,000 in 2004, the largest such decline in more than 60 years. Reflecting improvements in U.S. health care, declines in the death rates for heart disease, cancer, and stroke accounted for most of the surprising development, health officials said. Overall, death rates fell to a record low of 801 deaths per 100,000 population in 2004, down from almost 833 deaths per 100,000 in 2003. “These are preliminary data,” said Emory University epidemiology professor Paul Terry. “But if it holds up, it's obviously very good news.” The total number of U.S. deaths recorded in 2004 was 2,398,343, according to data released by the National Center for Health Statistics. The figure represents a 2 percent decline from the number of deaths recorded in 2003. The last decline in annual deaths occurred in 1997, a small drop of 445 from the previous year, said lead author Arialdi Minino. The last drop in deaths of significant size occurred in 1944, when the number fell 48,000 from the previous year, Minino said. “We were surprised by the sharpness of the decrease [in 2004]. It's … historical,” he said. The U.S. government also reported Wednesday that U.S. life expectancy had risen again, moving to a record high of 77.9 years.
