How has the US death rate from flu and pneumonia changed since 1900?

Influenza and pneumonia killed 297.5 people per 100,000 in 1900 and 612.4 in 1918, the year of the influenza pandemic. By 2018 the rate was 14.9, about 95% lower than in 1900. Rates are age-adjusted, and cause-of-death coding has been revised several times since 1900, so small jumps can reflect those changes. This CDC dataset stops at 2018.

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Key facts

Measure: Influenza and pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people in a year, age-adjusted. Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2018, is 14.9.
  • That is down 95% from 297.5 in 1900.
  • The highest was 612.4 in 1918.
  • The lowest was 13.5 in 2016.

Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Age-adjusted death rates for selected major causes of death
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How has the US death rate from flu and pneumonia changed since 1900?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Age-adjusted death rates for selected major causes of death, https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/NCHS-Age-adjusted-Death-Rates-for-Selected-Major-C/6rkc-nb2q (data as of December 31, 2018). https://chart.ly/charts/flu-and-pneumonia-death-rate (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Influenza and pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people in a year, age-adjusted
1900 297.5
1901 312.9
1902 219.3
1903 251.1
1904 291.2
1905 257.8
1906 222.5
1907 285.4
1908 234.6
1909 221.2
1910 238.4
1911 234.1
1912 213.7
1913 214.8
1914 202.4
1915 238.1
1916 278.5
1917 267
1918 612.4
1919 270.9
1920 279.2
1921 153.1
1922 207.6
1923 253
1924 182
1925 198.1
1926 233
1927 164
1928 236.4
1929 247.5
1930 159.8
1931 170.2
1932 180
1933 156.5
1934 152.9
1935 163.8
1936 186.7
1937 181.8
1938 124.3
1939 124.4
1940 117.6
1941 104.6
1942 84.7
1943 101.7
1944 94.7
1945 74.9
1946 69.9
1947 65.9
1948 58
1949 45.1
1950 48.1
1951 47.4
1952 43.1
1953 49.2
1954 36.2
1955 39.2
1956 40.8
1957 50.3
1958 47.4
1959 44.3
1960 53.7
1961 43.4
1962 47.1
1963 55.6
1964 45.4
1965 46.8
1966 47.9
1967 42.2
1968 52.8
1969 47.9
1970 41.7
1971 38.4
1972 41.3
1973 41.2
1974 35.5
1975 34.9
1976 38.8
1977 31
1978 34.5
1979 26.1
1980 31.4
1981 30
1982 26.5
1983 29.8
1984 30.6
1985 34.5
1986 34.8
1987 33.8
1988 37.3
1989 35.9
1990 36.8
1991 34.9
1992 33.1
1993 35.2
1994 33.9
1995 33.8
1996 33.2
1997 33.6
1998 34.6
1999 23.5
2000 23.7
2001 22.2
2002 23.2
2003 22.6
2004 20.4
2005 21
2006 18.4
2007 16.8
2008 17.6
2009 16.5
2010 15.1
2011 15.7
2012 14.4
2013 15.9
2014 15.1
2015 15.2
2016 13.5
2017 14.3
2018 14.9

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