In the United States, the average person has a 1 in 6 chance of dying from heart disease and a 1 in 7 chance of dying from cancer. In comparison, the odds of dying from a dog attack are 1 in 43,882. Sadly, the odds of dying from an opioid overdose in the U.S. are 1 in 55, making death from an opioid overdose more likely than dying from a motor vehicle accident. Opioid overdose death rates have increased insignificantly in the U.S. over the past decade. Leading causes of death in the United States Given the high lifetime odds of dying from heart disease or cancer, it is unsurprising that heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States. Together, heart disease and cancer account for around 40 percent of all deaths. Other leading causes of death include accidents, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes. However, in 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States and remained the fourth leading cause of death in 2022, with around 44.5 deaths per 100,000 population. Heart disease in the U.S. Although heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, death rates due to heart disease have decreased steadily over the last two decades. In 2019, there were around 162 deaths due to heart disease per 100,000 population. Coronary heart disease is the most common form of heart disease in the United States. Common risk factors for heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, excessive drinking, and being overweight or obese. The states with the highest rates of death from heart disease are Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama.

In the United States in 2021, the death rate was highest among those aged 85 and over, with about 17,190.5 men and 14,914.5 women per 100,000 of the population passing away. For all ages, the death rate was at 1,118.2 per 100,000 of the population for males, and 970.8 per 100,000 of the population for women. The death rate Death rates generally are counted as the number of deaths per 1,000 or 100,000 of the population and include both deaths of natural and unnatural causes. The death rate in the United States had pretty much held steady since 1990 until it started to increase over the last decade, with the highest death rates recorded in recent years. While the birth rate in the United States has been decreasing, it is still currently higher than the death rate. Causes of death There are a myriad number of causes of death in the United States, but the most recent data shows the top three leading causes of death to be heart disease, cancers, and accidents. Heart disease was also the leading cause of death worldwide.

Number of deaths and mortality rates, by age group, sex, and place of residence, 1991 to most recent year.

Among COVID-19 patients in the United States from February 12 to March 16, 2020, estimated case-fatality rates were highest for adults aged 85 years and older. Younger people appeared to have milder symptoms, and there were no deaths reported among persons aged 19 years and under.

Tracking the virus in the United States The outbreak of a previously unknown viral pneumonia was first reported in China toward the end of December 2019. The first U.S. case of COVID-19 was recorded in mid-January 2020, confirmed in a patient who had returned to the United States from China. The virus quickly started to spread, and the first community-acquired case was confirmed one month later in California. Overall, there had been approximately 4.5 million coronavirus cases in the country by the start of August 2020.

U.S. health care system stretched California, Florida, and Texas are among the states with the most coronavirus cases. Even the best-resourced hospitals in the United States have struggled to cope with the crisis, and certain areas of the country were dealt further blows by new waves of infections in July 2020. Attention is rightly focused on fighting the pandemic, but as health workers are redirected to care for COVID-19 patients, the United States must not lose sight of other important health care issues.

India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 4.000 Ratio in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 4.100 Ratio for 2018. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 7.800 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.500 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 4.000 Ratio in 2019. India IN: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 15-19 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 15, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

Nigeria NG: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 7.900 Ratio in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.100 Ratio for 2018. Nigeria NG: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 10.000 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.900 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 7.900 Ratio in 2019. Nigeria NG: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 10-14 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 10, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

Motor vehicle accidents were the most likely type of transportation to cause preventable deaths in the United States, with a person born in 2020 having a one in 101 chance of dying in a motor vehicle accident. At the other end of the scale is bus travel, where passengers have a one in 305,644 chance of being in a fatal accident.

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

Annual data on death registrations by single year of age for the UK (1974 onwards) and England and Wales (1963 onwards).

New Zealand NZ: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 1.800 Ratio in 2019. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.900 Ratio for 2018. New Zealand NZ: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 3.250 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.000 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 1.800 Ratio in 2019. New Zealand NZ: Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 15-19 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 15, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

COVID-19 rate of death, or the known deaths divided by confirmed cases, was over ten percent in Yemen, the only country that has 1,000 or more cases. This according to a calculation that combines coronavirus stats on both deaths and registered cases for 221 different countries. Note that death rates are not the same as the chance of dying from an infection or the number of deaths based on an at-risk population. By April 26, 2022, the virus had infected over 510.2 million people worldwide, and led to a loss of 6.2 million. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. Note that Statista aims to also provide domestic source material for a more complete picture, and not to just look at one particular source. Examples are these statistics on the confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia or the COVID-19 cases in Italy, both of which are from domestic sources. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

A word on the flaws of numbers like this

People are right to ask whether these numbers are at all representative or not for several reasons. First, countries worldwide decide differently on who gets tested for the virus, meaning that comparing case numbers or death rates could to some extent be misleading. Germany, for example, started testing relatively early once the country’s first case was confirmed in Bavaria in January 2020, whereas Italy tests for the coronavirus postmortem. Second, not all people go to see (or can see, due to testing capacity) a doctor when they have mild symptoms. Countries like Norway and the Netherlands, for example, recommend people with non-severe symptoms to just stay at home. This means not all cases are known all the time, which could significantly alter the death rate as it is presented here. Third and finally, numbers like this change very frequently depending on how the pandemic spreads or the national healthcare capacity. It is therefore recommended to look at other (freely accessible) content that dives more into specifics, such as the coronavirus testing capacity in India or the number of hospital beds in the UK. Only with additional pieces of information can you get the full picture, something that this statistic in its current state simply cannot provide.

South Korea Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 1.100 Ratio in 2019. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.100 Ratio for 2018. South Korea Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 1.650 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.800 Ratio in 1995 and a record low of 1.100 Ratio in 2019. South Korea Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Korea – Table KR.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 15-19 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 15, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

This dataset provides performance ratings for California Surgeons for Risk-Adjusted Operative Mortality Rates for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Surgery from 2011 to 2018. It also includes the number of isolated CABG surgery cases and deaths that each surgeon performed as well as the location of hospitals where the surgeon performed CABG surgery.

Australia Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 1.500 Ratio in 2019. This stayed constant from the previous number of 1.500 Ratio for 2018. Australia Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 2.000 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.300 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 1.500 Ratio in 2019. Australia Probability of Dying at Age 15-19 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 15-19 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 15, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

Indonesia ID: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data was reported at 2.000 Ratio in 2019. This stayed constant from the previous number of 2.000 Ratio for 2018. Indonesia ID: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data is updated yearly, averaging 3.100 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2019, with 30 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 6.500 Ratio in 2004 and a record low of 2.000 Ratio in 2019. Indonesia ID: Probability of Dying at Age 10-14 Years: per 1000 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Indonesia – Table ID.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Probability of dying between age 10-14 years of age expressed per 1,000 adolescents age 10, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

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Mortality experience data from 2009 through 2013 on public pension plans in the United States

Historical and emerging trends in U.S. population mortality by cause of death

Mortality and morbidity experience data from 2010 through 2013 on group insurance policies

Mortality experience data from 2009 through 2015 on fully underwritten individual life insurance policies