The United States will top 3 million deaths in 2020, making it the deadliest year in the nation’s history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NBC News reports that the CDC estimates that 3.2 million Americans will have died in 2020 when the final data are tallied. That number is 400,000 more, or roughly 12% higher, than the 2019 total. It’s the largest year-over-year percentage point growth since 1918, when the number of deaths increased by 47% over the previous year, due to the tandem of World War I casualties and the Spanish Flu pandemic.
The dramatic increase is beyond the expected range attributable to population growth and other demographics. The CDC says that the increase is due primarily to the coronavirus pandemic.