Despite the alarmist press, death rates have been in steep decline over the past 75 years. The CDC reports:

> While the overall risk of mortality decreased 60 percent over this 75-year period, there were fluctuations in the rate of decline most likely associated with changes in the broader environment. For example, the 29 percent decline in age-adjusted mortality in the earlier period from 1935 to 1954 was probably influenced by the introduction of various drugs such as antibiotics.

> In the most recent period from 1969 to 2010, significant progress in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases likely contributed to the 41 percent decline in age-adjusted mortality despite cancer continuing to increase from 1969 to 1990 and chronic lower respiratory diseases continuing to increase from 1969 to 1998.

> Although there were year to year exceptions, the last 75 years witnessed sustained declines in the risk of dying in the United States. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke remained among the five leading causes each year between 1935 and 2010. ... accidents entered the five leading causes of death in 1946.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db88.pdf

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