Survey: 23% of Americans Have Had Near-Death Experiences
A landmark national survey reveals that nearly one in four American adults claim to have crossed into another realm and returned, obliterating decades of assumptions about the rarity of near-death experiences.
The number landed like a thunderclap in the consciousness research community: 23 percent of American adults say they have experienced a near-death experience, according to a new survey conducted by the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and research firm Centiment.
The poll, which surveyed 2,100 Americans in March 2026 and was officially released during the inaugural Near-Death Experience Week (June 1-7), represents one of the largest systematic attempts to measure the prevalence of NDEs in the American population. The implications are staggering. In a nation of roughly 260 million adults, that figure translates to approximately 60 million people who claim to have "transitioned to another realm and then returned to human existence"—a working definition the survey used to frame the question.
For decades, near-death experience research has relied on estimates that were far more conservative. A survey by pollster George Gallup Jr. decades ago suggested only 5% of Americans had experienced an NDE. A more recent multinational study found roughly 10% met clinical thresholds using the Greyson NDE Scale, the gold standard assessment tool in the field. The new IANDS/Centiment data represents a nearly five-fold increase over Gallup's historical benchmark.
"This remarkable data tells us three important things: NDEs may be more common than we realized; people who have NDEs or hear about them are positively impacted, and the majority of Americans believe evidence exists to support the phenomena," according to IANDS's summary of the findings.
Perhaps equally significant: 35 percent of respondents who hadn't had an NDE themselves said they know someone who has had one. This suggests that near-death experiences are no longer relegated to medical journals and spiritual memoirs—they are now intimate, household phenomena that most Americans encounter through personal relationship.
The survey revealed something striking about the transformative nature of these experiences. Among those who reported having an NDE, 51 percent said it gave them a deeper appreciation for life. Thirty-six percent reported feeling more connected to the spiritual realm. Thirty-one percent said it changed their life priorities. Thirty percent claimed they experienced less fear of death, while 30 percent reported becoming more empathetic toward others. Twenty-six percent described themselves as more generous and socially minded after their experience.
These numbers matter because they challenge the dismissive narratives that have long marginalized NDEs in mainstream medicine and academia. For years, the standard reductionist explanation treated NDEs as mere hallucinations—the brain's last electrical gasp as it shuts down. But mounting evidence suggests this framework is insufficient. The raw prevalence data now available suggests we're not discussing rare anomalies; we're discussing a phenomenon that touches roughly one in four lives.
The survey's timing during the first-ever National Near-Death Experience Week appears deliberately coordinated to maximize public attention and shift cultural conversation. IANDS is hosting two free public events during the week: On June 2, IANDS President Evan Mecham (who had an NDE in 1980) and author Vincent Tolman (who had an NDE in 2003) will discuss their experiences. On June 6, neuroscientist Marieta Pehlivanova, Ph.D. from the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, will speak alongside Anita Moorjani, author of the bestselling "Dying to Be Me."
The academic establishment is beginning to take notice. Earlier this year, researchers from UVA's prestigious Division of Perceptual Studies challenged the NEPTUNE model—a neurophysiological theory meant to explain NDEs—arguing that it fails to account for crucial features of the experience. Bruce Greyson and Marieta Pehlivanova noted that hallucinations typically involve a single sense, but NDE reports consistently involve multisensory encounters that are vivid, integrated, and indelible for decades. This isn't the fuzzy, quickly-forgotten quality of ordinary hallucinations.
Elsewhere in the field, neuroscientist Charlotte Martial from the University of Liège is proposing a radically different framework: NDEs may represent natural, adaptive mental states—sophisticated survival mechanisms the brain deploys when facing imminent collapse. Rather than treating consciousness as a simple on-off switch, this perspective suggests the brain has evolved elaborate coping mechanisms that produce structured, meaningful experiences even under extreme physiological failure.
The IANDS survey results also prompted the organization to release new guidance materials and expand its support infrastructure. The organization operates more than a dozen online sharing groups monthly and is affiliated with 80 local groups worldwide. IANDS maintains a directory of mental health professionals with specialized training in helping NDE integrators navigate the psychological aftermath of their experiences—a recognition that encountering transcendence can be destabilizing.
The question now becomes: What changes when the public learns that NDEs aren't statistical oddities but rather something experienced by one in four neighbors? How does medicine respond when it must acknowledge that consciousness under extreme conditions remains poorly understood? And most provocatively: What do we do with millions of people who have integrated experiences of "another realm" into their deepest sense of who they are and what matters?
This survey transforms NDEs from a fringe curiosity into a mainstream phenomenon demanding serious reckoning. If 23 percent of Americans have experienced transcendence, then our entire medical, philosophical, and spiritual frameworks are built on a false foundation: the assumption that consciousness neatly terminates at brain death. The institutions that benefit most from NDEs remaining marginalized—pharmaceutical companies, insurance models, hospital hierarchies—all have incentive to keep these experiences hidden or pathologized. IANDS's creation of Near-Death Experience Week signals a pivot: consciousness researchers are no longer asking permission to be taken seriously. They're demanding a seat at the table. If nothing changes, millions of Americans will continue navigating profound spiritual experiences in isolation, unable to discuss them with doctors, therapists, or even loved ones. The moment of enforced silence is ending.
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