The number of unintentional-injury-related deaths due to poisoning in the United States was around 100,300 in 2023. This statistic shows the number of unintentional-injury-related deaths by principal type in the United States in the year 2022 and 2023.

This dataset describes injury mortality in the United States beginning in 1999. Two concepts are included in the circumstances of an injury death: intent of injury and mechanism of injury. Intent of injury describes whether the injury was inflicted purposefully (intentional injury) and, if purposeful, whether the injury was self-inflicted (suicide or self-harm) or inflicted by another person (homicide). Injuries that were not purposefully inflicted are considered unintentional (accidental) injuries. Mechanism of injury describes the source of the energy transfer that resulted in physical or physiological harm to the body. Examples of mechanisms of injury include falls, motor vehicle traffic crashes, burns, poisonings, and drownings (1,2). Data are based on information from all resident death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 standard population) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2015 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for non-census years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Causes of injury death are classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Categories of injury intent and injury mechanism generally follow the categories in the external-cause-of-injury mortality matrix (1,2). Cause-of-death statistics are based on the underlying cause of death. SOURCES CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov). REFERENCES National Center for Health Statistics. ICD–10: External cause of injury mortality matrix. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm. Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Curtin SC, and Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2015. National vital statistics reports; vol 66. no. 6. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf. Miniño AM, Anderson RN, Fingerhut LA, Boudreault MA, Warner M. Deaths: Injuries, 2002. National vital statistics reports; vol 54 no 10. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2006.

Unintentional injuries claimed the lives of ******* Americans in 2023, marking a slight decrease from the previous year. This figure represents a significant public health concern. While heart disease and cancer typically top the list of mortality causes, unintentional injuries were the ***** leading cause of death in 2023. Poisoning emerges as a major contributor Among the various types of unintentional injuries, poisoning stands out as a particularly deadly threat. In 2023, approximately ******* deaths were attributed to unintentional poisoning, accounting for nearly half of all accident-related fatalities. That year, the death rate due to poisoning reached **** per 100,000 population. Unintentional drug overdose deaths account for a majority of poisoning deaths in the United States, with opioids, and in particular fentanyl, currently fueling these high numbers. Home safety remains a critical concern The home environment, often considered a safe haven, continues to be a significant site for unintentional injury-related deaths. In 2021 and 2022, the rate of such fatalities occurring at home peaked at **** per 100,000 population. Most unintentional injury deaths at home occur among elderly people, with falls accounting for the majority of such deaths among this age group.

In 2023, there were **** deaths due to unintentional injuries per 100,000 people in the United States. This statistic shows the death rate due to unintentional injuries in the United States from 1930 to 2023.

In 2023, there were around 97,231 deaths in the United States due to unintentional drug overdose. Drug overdose, motor vehicle traffic accidents, and falls are the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States.

This dataset describes drug poisoning deaths at the U.S. and state level by selected demographic characteristics, and includes age-adjusted death rates for drug poisoning from 1999 to 2015. Deaths are classified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Drug-poisoning deaths are defined as having ICD–10 underlying cause-of-death codes X40–X44 (unintentional), X60–X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10–Y14 (undetermined intent). Estimates are based on the National Vital Statistics System multiple cause-of-death mortality files (1). Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population for 2000) are calculated using the direct method. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2015 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 U.S. census. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Estimate does not meet standards of reliability or precision. Death rates are flagged as “Unreliable” in the chart when the rate is calculated with a numerator of 20 or less. Death rates for some states and years may be low due to a high number of unresolved pending cases or misclassification of ICD–10 codes for unintentional poisoning as R99, “Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality” (2). For example, this issue is known to affect New Jersey in 2009 and West Virginia in 2005 and 2009 but also may affect other years and other states. Estimates should be interpreted with caution. Smoothed county age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 population) were obtained according to methods described elsewhere (3–5). Briefly, two-stage hierarchical models were used to generate empirical Bayes estimates of county age-adjusted death rates due to drug poisoning for each year during 1999–2015. These annual county-level estimates “borrow strength” across counties to generate stable estimates of death rates where data are sparse due to small population size (3,5). Estimates are unavailable for Broomfield County, Colo., and Denali County, Alaska, before 2003 (6,7). Additionally, Bedford City, Virginia was added to Bedford County in 2015 and no longer appears in the mortality file in 2015. County boundaries are consistent with the vintage 2005-2007 bridged-race population file geographies (6).

In 2023, the death rate from drug overdose in the United States stood at around 29 per 100,000 population, while the death rate from motor vehicle traffic accidents was 12.5 per 100,000 population. Drug overdose, motor vehicle traffic accidents, and falls are the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States.

MMWR Surveillance Summary 66 (No. SS-1):1-8 found that nonmetropolitan areas have significant numbers of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death. These figures accompany this report by presenting information on potentially excess deaths in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas at the state level. They also add additional years of data and options for selecting different age ranges and benchmarks.

Potentially excess deaths are defined in MMWR Surveillance Summary 66(No. SS-1):1-8 as deaths that exceed the numbers that would be expected if the death rates of states with the lowest rates (benchmarks) occurred across all states. They are calculated by subtracting expected deaths for specific benchmarks from observed deaths.

Not all potentially excess deaths can be prevented; some areas might have characteristics that predispose them to higher rates of death. However, many potentially excess deaths might represent deaths that could be prevented through improved public health programs that support healthier behaviors and neighborhoods or better access to health care services.

Mortality data for U.S. residents come from the National Vital Statistics System. Estimates based on fewer than 10 observed deaths are not shown and shaded yellow on the map.

Underlying cause of death is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10)

Heart disease (I00-I09, I11, I13, and I20–I51) Cancer (C00–C97) Unintentional injury (V01–X59 and Y85–Y86) Chronic lower respiratory disease (J40–J47) Stroke (I60–I69) Locality (nonmetropolitan vs. metropolitan) is based on the Office of Management and Budget’s 2013 county-based classification scheme.

Benchmarks are based on the three states with the lowest age and cause-specific mortality rates.

Potentially excess deaths for each state are calculated by subtracting deaths at the benchmark rates (expected deaths) from observed deaths.

Users can explore three benchmarks:

“2010 Fixed” is a fixed benchmark based on the best performing States in 2010. “2005 Fixed” is a fixed benchmark based on the best performing States in 2005. “Floating” is based on the best performing States in each year so change from year to year.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. Moy E, Garcia MC, Bastian B, Rossen LM, Ingram DD, Faul M, Massetti GM, Thomas CC, Hong Y, Yoon PW, Iademarco MF. Leading Causes of Death in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Areas – United States, 1999-2014. MMWR Surveillance Summary 2017; 66(No. SS-1):1-8.

2. Garcia MC, Faul M, Massetti G, Thomas CC, Hong Y, Bauer UE, Iademarco MF. Reducing Potentially Excess Deaths from the Five Leading Causes of Death in the Rural United States. MMWR Surveillance Summary 2017; 66(No. SS-2):1–7.

Analysis of ‘NCHS - Injury Mortality: United States’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/8dc5d5f6-9799-4230-9a90-7d7d77853cbe on 12 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

This dataset describes injury mortality in the United States beginning in 1999. Two concepts are included in the circumstances of an injury death: intent of injury and mechanism of injury. Intent of injury describes whether the injury was inflicted purposefully (intentional injury) and, if purposeful, whether the injury was self-inflicted (suicide or self-harm) or inflicted by another person (homicide). Injuries that were not purposefully inflicted are considered unintentional (accidental) injuries. Mechanism of injury describes the source of the energy transfer that resulted in physical or physiological harm to the body. Examples of mechanisms of injury include falls, motor vehicle traffic crashes, burns, poisonings, and drownings (1,2).

Data are based on information from all resident death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 standard population) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2015 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for non-census years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published.

Causes of injury death are classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Categories of injury intent and injury mechanism generally follow the categories in the external-cause-of-injury mortality matrix (1,2). Cause-of-death statistics are based on the underlying cause of death.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics. ICD–10: External cause of injury mortality matrix.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

3. Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Curtin SC, and Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2015. National vital statistics reports; vol 66. no. 6. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf.

4. Miniño AM, Anderson RN, Fingerhut LA, Boudreault MA, Warner M. Deaths: Injuries, 2002. National vital statistics reports; vol 54 no 10. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2006.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

This dataset describes drug poisoning deaths at the county level by selected demographic characteristics and includes age-adjusted death rates for drug poisoning from 1999 to 2015. Deaths are classified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Drug-poisoning deaths are defined as having ICD–10 underlying cause-of-death codes X40–X44 (unintentional), X60–X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10–Y14 (undetermined intent). Estimates are based on the National Vital Statistics System multiple cause-of-death mortality files (1). Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population for 2000) are calculated using the direct method. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2015 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 U.S. census. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Estimate does not meet standards of reliability or precision. Death rates are flagged as “Unreliable” in the chart when the rate is calculated with a numerator of 20 or less. Death rates for some states and years may be low due to a high number of unresolved pending cases or misclassification of ICD–10 codes for unintentional poisoning as R99, “Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality” (2). For example, this issue is known to affect New Jersey in 2009 and West Virginia in 2005 and 2009 but also may affect other years and other states. Estimates should be interpreted with caution. Smoothed county age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 population) were obtained according to methods described elsewhere (3–5). Briefly, two-stage hierarchical models were used to generate empirical Bayes estimates of county age-adjusted death rates due to drug poisoning for each year during 1999–2015. These annual county-level estimates “borrow strength” across counties to generate stable estimates of death rates where data are sparse due to small population size (3,5). Estimates are unavailable for Broomfield County, Colo., and Denali County, Alaska, before 2003 (6,7). Additionally, Bedford City, Virginia was added to Bedford County in 2015 and no longer appears in the mortality file in 2015. County boundaries are consistent with the vintage 2005-2007 bridged-race population file geographies (6).

United States US: Cause of Death: by Injury: % of Total data was reported at 6.600 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 6.400 % for 2015. United States US: Cause of Death: by Injury: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 6.300 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 6.600 % in 2016 and a record low of 5.900 % in 2000. United States US: Cause of Death: by Injury: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Cause of death refers to the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying causes. Injuries include unintentional and intentional injuries.; ; Derived based on the data from WHO's Global Health Estimates.; Weighted average;

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Female: per 100,000 Female Population data was reported at 0.800 Ratio in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.800 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Female: per 100,000 Female Population data is updated yearly, averaging 0.800 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.800 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.600 Ratio in 2000. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Female: per 100,000 Female Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisonings is the number of female deaths from unintentional poisonings in a year per 100,000 female population. Unintentional poisoning can be caused by household chemicals, pesticides, kerosene, carbon monoxide and medicines, or can be the result of environmental contamination or occupational chemical exposure.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

The leading causes of death among children aged 5 to 9 years in the United States in 2022 were unintentional injuries, cancer, and congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, unintentional injuries accounted for around 28 percent of all deaths among this age group. Child abuse in the U.S. Sadly, assault or homicide, was the fourth leading cause of death among those aged 5 to 9 years in the United States in 2022, accounting for around 9.4 percent of all deaths. That year, there were around 113,259 cases of child abuse in the U.S. among children aged 6 to 9 years and 129,846 cases among children aged 2 to 5 years. In 2022, there were around 5.36 child deaths per day in the United States due to abuse and neglect. Suicide among children Assault or homicide was also among the top five leading causes of death among children aged 10 to 14 years, but perhaps even more troubling is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among this age group. As with younger children, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14 years, however, suicide accounts for around 13 percent of all deaths among this age group. Comparatively, suicide is not among the ten-leading causes of death among children from the age 1 to 9 years.

The graph displays the number of car accident fatalities in the United States from 2011 to 2024. The x-axis represents the years, labeled from '11 to '24, while the y-axis indicates the number of deaths resulting from car accidents. Fatalities range from a low of 29,135 in 2024 to a high of 43,230 in 2021. Over the period from 2011 to 2021, there is a general upward trend in fatalities, peaking in 2021. The data shows a slight decrease in 2022 and 2023, with fatalities at 42,514 and 40,990, respectively. In early estimates of 2024, there were 39,345 deaths, but this only includes the first three quarters. This data highlights fluctuations in annual car accident fatalities over the years.

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: per 100,000 Population data was reported at 0.900 Ratio in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.900 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: per 100,000 Population data is updated yearly, averaging 0.900 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.900 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.700 Ratio in 2000. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: per 100,000 Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisonings is the number of deaths from unintentional poisonings in a year per 100,000 population. Unintentional poisoning can be caused by household chemicals, pesticides, kerosene, carbon monoxide and medicines, or can be the result of environmental contamination or occupational chemical exposure.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

In 2022, the leading causes of death for children aged one to four years in the United States were unintentional injuries and congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, around 31 percent of all deaths among these children were caused by unintentional injuries. Differences in causes of death among children by age Just as unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children aged one to four, it is also the leading cause of death for the age groups five to nine and 10 to 14. However, congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities account for fewer deaths as children become older, while the share of deaths caused by cancer is higher among those aged five to nine and 10 to 14. In fact, cancer is the second leading cause of death among five to nine-year-olds, accounting for around 15 percent of all deaths. Sadly, the second leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 is intentional self-harm, with 13 percent of all deaths among those in this age group caused by suicide. Leading causes of death in the United States The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and malignant neoplasms. Together, these two diseases accounted for around 40 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2022. That year, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death, with about six percent of all deaths caused by COVID-19. In 2022, the lifetime odds that the average person in the United States would die from heart disease was one in six, while the odds for cancer were one in seven and for COVID-19 one in 23.

MMWR Surveillance Summary 66 (No. SS-1):1-8 found that nonmetropolitan areas have significant numbers of potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death. These figures accompany this report by presenting information on potentially excess deaths in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas at the state level. They also add additional years of data and options for selecting different age ranges and benchmarks.

Potentially excess deaths are defined in MMWR Surveillance Summary 66(No. SS-1):1-8 as deaths that exceed the numbers that would be expected if the death rates of states with the lowest rates (benchmarks) occurred across all states. They are calculated by subtracting expected deaths for specific benchmarks from observed deaths.

Not all potentially excess deaths can be prevented; some areas might have characteristics that predispose them to higher rates of death. However, many potentially excess deaths might represent deaths that could be prevented through improved public health programs that support healthier behaviors and neighborhoods or better access to health care services.

Mortality data for U.S. residents come from the National Vital Statistics System. Estimates based on fewer than 10 observed deaths are not shown and shaded yellow on the map.

Underlying cause of death is based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10)

Heart disease (I00-I09, I11, I13, and I20–I51) Cancer (C00–C97) Unintentional injury (V01–X59 and Y85–Y86) Chronic lower respiratory disease (J40–J47) Stroke (I60–I69) Locality (nonmetropolitan vs. metropolitan) is based on the Office of Management and Budget’s 2013 county-based classification scheme.

Benchmarks are based on the three states with the lowest age and cause-specific mortality rates.

Potentially excess deaths for each state are calculated by subtracting deaths at the benchmark rates (expected deaths) from observed deaths.

Users can explore three benchmarks:

“2010 Fixed” is a fixed benchmark based on the best performing States in 2010. “2005 Fixed” is a fixed benchmark based on the best performing States in 2005. “Floating” is based on the best performing States in each year so change from year to year.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. Moy E, Garcia MC, Bastian B, Rossen LM, Ingram DD, Faul M, Massetti GM, Thomas CC, Hong Y, Yoon PW, Iademarco MF. Leading Causes of Death in Nonmetropolitan and Metropolitan Areas – United States, 1999-2014. MMWR Surveillance Summary 2017; 66(No. SS-1):1-8.

2. Garcia MC, Faul M, Massetti G, Thomas CC, Hong Y, Bauer UE, Iademarco MF. Reducing Potentially Excess Deaths from the Five Leading Causes of Death in the Rural United States. MMWR Surveillance Summary 2017; 66(No. SS-2):1–7.

United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Male: per 100,000 Male Population data was reported at 1.000 Ratio in 2016. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.000 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Male: per 100,000 Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 1.000 Ratio from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.000 Ratio in 2016 and a record low of 0.800 Ratio in 2000. United States US: Mortality Rate Attributed to Unintentional Poisoning: Male: per 100,000 Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Mortality rate attributed to unintentional poisonings is the number of male deaths from unintentional poisonings in a year per 100,000 male population. Unintentional poisoning can be caused by household chemicals, pesticides, kerosene, carbon monoxide and medicines, or can be the result of environmental contamination or occupational chemical exposure.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

United States US: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Inhabitants data was reported at 12.239 Ratio in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 12.757 Ratio for 2022. United States US: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Inhabitants data is updated yearly, averaging 12.844 Ratio from Dec 1994 (Median) to 2023, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.704 Ratio in 1995 and a record low of 10.284 Ratio in 2014. United States US: Road Fatalities: Per One Million Inhabitants data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.OECD.ITF: Road Traffic and Road Accident Fatalities: OECD Member: Annual. [COVERAGE] ROAD FATALITIES A road fatality is any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of an injury accident, excluding suicides. A killed person is excluded if the competent authority declares the cause of death to be suicide, i.e. a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in death. For countries that do not apply the threshold of 30 days, conversion coefficients are estimated so that comparison on the basis of the 30-day definition can be made.

The graph displays the number of car accident fatalities by type in the United States from 2010 to 2022. The x-axis represents the years, labeled from '10 to '22, while the y-axis indicates the number of fatalities. Each year includes data points for four categories: Passenger Vehicle, Pedestrian, Two-Wheeled Vehicle, and Large Truck fatalities. Passenger Vehicle fatalities range from a low of 21,076 in 2014 to a high of 26,650 in 2021. Pedestrian fatalities increase from 4,300 in 2010 to a peak of 7,467 in 2022. Two-Wheeled Vehicle fatalities vary between 5,022 in 2014 and 7,287 in 2022. Large Truck fatalities are the lowest among the categories, ranging from 346 in 2010 to 533 in 2022. The data reveals an overall upward trend in fatalities across all categories, particularly notable in the years 2021 and 2022.