The U.S. Age-Adjusted Death Rate Reached a Record Low in 2025: What Drove the Decline?

https://aspe.hhs.gov/reports/death-rate-record-low The HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) recently released new analysis examining America’s record-low overall age-adjusted death rate in 2025 and substantial progress in reducing prescription opioid exposure and expanding treatment. The ASPE report, The U.S. Age-Adjusted Death Rate Reached a Record Low in 2025: What Drove the Decline?, and accompanying analysis, Two Opioid Policy Trends Are Moving in the Right Direction: Sustaining a Decade of Progress, highlight how actions across President Trump’s two terms to reduce unnecessary opioid prescribing, combat illicit fentanyl, and strengthen treatment and recovery have led opioid-related deaths in the United States to plummet to the lowest since President Trump declared a public health emergency in 2017. In January 2026, President Trump established the Great American Recovery to better align federal programs and integrate prevention, treatment, recovery support, and reentry across systems. HHS Faith Center Director Monty Burks is the Executive Director of the Great American Recovery. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-reports-opioid-deaths-lowest-nearly-decade.html