America Is Facing a Millennial Mortality Crisis and We Need to Talk About It
The long-standing trend of Americans outliving their parents has stalled. For millennials, it’s starting to run in reverse.
Research shows that Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are dying at higher rates than their peers in other wealthy nations. This steady change started years earlier and now shows no sign of reversing.
A Growing Gap in Survival
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Roughly three million people die in the U.S. each year. Researchers estimate that if America had the same health outcomes as other wealthy nations, about a quarter of those deaths wouldn’t happen. For adults under 65, nearly half of the deaths are considered preventable.
For adults between 25 and 44, the gap is even wider. Roughly 62% of deaths in this age group are considered “excess” compared with other wealthy nations. In 2023, that translated into about 700,000 additional deaths, a number researchers had already predicted before the pandemic.
The Turning Point After 2010
Things looked very different for young adults just a couple of decades ago. Cancer deaths were falling, heart disease was under better control, and HIV treatments had transformed survival. Even the number of violent casualties was dropping.
The turning point came around 2010. Overdoses surged, lifestyle diseases started appearing earlier, car crashes rose, and progress on heart health stopped. By the late 2010s, the health gains millennials expected had largely slipped away.
The Pandemic Made It Worse
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Of course, the pandemic drove deaths higher across all age groups, but younger U.S. adults were hit harder than their peers in other wealthy countries. Lower vaccination rates added to the toll. Unlike older adults, whose death rates eventually returned closer to normal, millennials continued to face elevated risks, with liver disease and traffic deaths remaining stubbornly high.
Why Millennials Are Dying Younger
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One major driver of early deaths among millennials is substance use. Overdose rates climbed rapidly with the spread of synthetic materials like fentanyl, while drinking-related disease and self-inflicted casualties added to the toll.
Experts often describe these losses as passings of despair, closely tied to financial stress, job instability, and the pressure of long-term debt.
Chronic illness also plays a growing role. Many go untreated because younger adults lack reliable access to affordable care. High deductibles, limited coverage, and delayed appointments push people to avoid checkups until illness becomes harder to manage.
Social and environmental risks reinforce these patterns. Rising isolation, described as a loneliness epidemic, is linked to depression and unhealthy coping behaviors.
These overlapping factors explain why millennials do worse than others, health-wise. Their higher death rates reflect the combined weight of health problems, economic strain, and social pressures that cut into survival in early adulthood.