The thermal decomposition of hydrogen peroxide was measured behind reflected shock waves in hydrogen peroxide/inert gas mixtures using a sensitive laser diagnostic for water vapor. In these mixtures, the formation rate of water is predominantly controlled by the decomposition rate of hydrogen peroxide. Rate determinations were made over a temperature range of 1000-1200 K and a pressure range of 0.9-3.2 atm for both argon and nitrogen carrier gases. Good detection sensitivity for water was achieved using tunable diode laser absorption of water at 2550.96 nm within its nu(3) fundamental band. Hydrogen peroxide decomposition rates were found to be independent of pressure at 0.9 and 1.7 atm and showed only slight influence of pressure at 3.2 atm. The best fit of the current data to the low-pressure-limit rate for H2O2 dissociation in argon bath gas is k(1,0) = 10(15.97+/-0.10) exp(-21 220 +/- 250 K/T) [cm(3) mol(-1) s(-1)] (1000-1200 K). Experiments conducted in a nitrogen bath gas show a relative collision efficiency of argon to nitrogen of 0.67.