This dataset presents the age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States beginning in 1999. Data are based on information from all resident death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia using demographic and medical characteristics. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 population) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates after 2010 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 death classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10) are ranked according to the number of deaths assigned to rankable causes. 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. 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.

From 2018 to 2023, heart disease and cancer accounted for the highest share of deaths in the United States. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death, accounting for around 12 percent of all deaths in 2021. However, by 2023, COVID-19 was responsible for only 1.6 percent of deaths, making it the tenth leading cause of death. This statistic shows the distribution of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States from 2018 to 2023.

Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the United States. In 2022, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for almost six percent of all deaths that year. The leading causes of death worldwide are similar to those in the United States. However, diarrheal diseases and neonatal conditions are major causes of death worldwide, but are not among the leading causes in the United States. Instead, accidents and chronic liver disease have a larger impact in the United States.

Racial differences

In the United States, there exist slight differences in leading causes of death depending on race and ethnicity. For example, assault, or homicide, accounts for around three percent of all deaths among the Black population but is not even among the leading causes of death for other races and ethnicities. However, heart disease and cancer are still the leading causes of death for all races and ethnicities.

Leading causes of death among men vs women

Similarly, there are also differences in the leading causes of death in the U.S. between men and women. For example, among men, intentional self-harm accounts for around two percent of all deaths but is not among the leading causes of death among women. On the other hand, influenza and pneumonia account for more deaths among women than men.

This dataset contains information on the number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates for the five leading causes of death in 1900, 1950, and 2000. Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 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 noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below). SOURCES CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); 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, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm. 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. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights trends in age-adjusted death rates for five selected major causes of death. Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 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 noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below). Revisions to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) over time may result in discontinuities in cause-of-death trends. SOURCES CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); 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, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm. 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. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

The Detailed Mortality - Underlying Cause of Death data on CDC WONDER are county-level national mortality and population data spanning the years 1999-2009. Data are based on death certificates for U.S. residents. Each death certificate contains a single underlying cause of death, and demographic data. The number of deaths, crude death rates, age-adjusted death rates, standard errors and 95% confidence intervals for death rates can be obtained by place of residence (total U.S., region, state, and county), age group (including infants and single-year-of-age cohorts), race (4 groups), Hispanic ethnicity, sex, year of death, and cause-of-death (4-digit ICD-10 code or group of codes, injury intent and mechanism categories, or drug and alcohol related causes), year, month and week day of death, place of death and whether an autopsy was performed. The data are produced by the National Center for Health Statistics.

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.

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.

Heart disease and cancer remained the leading causes of death in the United States from 2018 to 2023. However, there have been slight changes in the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. from 2018 to 2023. Most notable is that COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021, but by 2023 it was the tenth leading cause. This statistic shows the rates of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States from 2018 to 2023.

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. 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 2011–2017 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. 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. Drug poisoning death rates may be underestimated in those instances. REFERENCES 1. National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System: Mortality data. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm. CDC. CDC Wonder: Underlying cause of death 1999–2016. Available from: http://wonder.cdc.gov/wonder/help/ucd.html.

Analysis of ‘NCHS - Leading Causes of Death: United States’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/32b1872e-1faf-477e-99fc-bcad2a69729a on 27 January 2022.

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

This dataset presents the age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States beginning in 1999.

Data are based on information from all resident death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia using demographic and medical characteristics. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 population) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates after 2010 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 death classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10) are ranked according to the number of deaths assigned to rankable causes. 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. 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.

2. 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.

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

The leading causes of death in the United States have changed significantly from the year 1900 to the present. Leading causes of death in 1900, such as tuberculosis, gastrointestinal infections, and diphtheria have seen huge decreases in death rates and are no longer among the leading causes of death in the United States. However, other diseases such as heart disease and cancer have seen increased death rates. Vaccinations One major factor contributing to the decrease in death rates for many diseases since the year 1900 is the introduction of vaccinations. The decrease seen in the rates of death due to pneumonia and influenza is a prime example of this. In 1900, pneumonia and influenza were the leading causes of death, with around *** deaths per 100,000 population. However, in 2023 pneumonia and influenza were not even among the ten leading causes of death. Cancer One disease that has seen a large increase in death rates since 1900 is cancer. Cancer currently accounts for almost ** percent of all deaths in the United States, with death rates among men higher than those for women. The deadliest form of cancer for both men and women is cancer of the lung and bronchus. Some of the most common avoidable risk factors for cancer include smoking, drinking alcohol, sun exposure, and obesity.

Every year the CDC releases the country’s most detailed report on death in the United States under the National Vital Statistics Systems. This mortality dataset is a record of every death in the country for the year 2014

The leading causes of death by sex and ethnicity in New York City in since 2007. Cause of death is derived from the NYC death certificate which is issued for every death that occurs in New York City.

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).

The Mortality - Multiple Cause of Death data on CDC WONDER are county-level national mortality and population data spanning the yehttps://healthdata.gov/d/2sz9-6c59ars 1999-2006. These data are available in two separate data sets: one data set for years 1999-2004 with 3 race groups, and another data set for years 2005-2006 with 4 race groups and 3 Hispanic origin categories. Data are based on death certificates for U.S. residents. Each death certificate contains a single underlying cause of death, up to twenty additional multiple causes, and demographic data. The number of deaths, crude death rates, age-adjusted death rates, standard errors and 95% confidence intervals for death rates can be obtained by place of residence (total U.S., state, and county), age group (including infants), race, Hispanic ethnicity (years 2005-2006 only), sex, year of death, and cause-of-death (4-digit ICD-10 code or group of codes). The data are produced by the National Center for Health Statistics.

This data collection presents information about the causes of deaths occurring during 1980. Included is information about the causes of all recorded deaths occurring in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa during 1981. Data are provided concerning underlying causes of death, multiple conditions that caused the death, place of death, residence of the deceased (e.g., region, division, state, county), whether an autopsy was performed, and the month and day of the death. In addition, data are supplied on the sex, race, age, marital status, education, usual occupation, and origin or descent of the deceased. The multiple cause of death fields were coded from the MANUAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES, INJURIES, AND CAUSE-OF-DEATH, NINTH REVISION (ICD-9), VOLUMES 1 AND 2.

This data collection presents information about the causes of deaths occurring in the United States during 1982. Data are provided concerning underlying causes of death, place of death, whether there were multiple conditions that caused the death, and what those conditions were. In addition, data are provided on date of death, and on sex, race, age, marital status, and origin or descent of the deceased. Also included is information on residence of the deceased (state, county, city, region, and whether the county was a metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area). Data on whether an autopsy was performed and the site of accidents are also provided. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR -- https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09880.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they made this dataset available in multiple data formats.

Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in the United States in 2023. COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021, but by 2023 it was the tenth leading cause. This statistic shows the rates of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States in 2023.

Introduction

U.S. Death Statistics: The death rate in the United States reflects various factors such as health issues, lifestyle changes, and other social factors that impact people's lives. Life expectancy has generally improved due to advancements in American healthcare, but several causes of death remain significant, including heart disease, cancer, and accidents. The opioid crisis, along with mental health challenges like suicide, also adds to the national death rate.

The COVID-19 pandemic further influenced the death statistics, showing the importance of public health measures. As the population is growing enormously, thus people may pass away from age-related conditions, highlighting the need for better healthcare access and preventive measures to improve overall well-being