New Data from the CDC on Preventable Premature Death. The new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is an extension of an earlier CDC study, which showed a higher percentage of early death from the five leading causes in rural counties compared with urban counties during 2010-2017. More recent data show that the rural-urban gap in all-cause mortality continues to widen. In 1999, the death rate in rural areas was 7 percent higher than in urban areas; by 2019, it was 20 percent higher. View CDC’s rural health website and Rural Public Health At-a-Glance to find out what CDC is doing to improve the health and well-being of rural communities.