The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and cancer. However, in 2022, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for around six percent of all deaths that year. In 2022, there were around 45 deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 population.

Cardiovascular disease

Deaths from cardiovascular disease are more common among men than women but have decreased for both sexes over the past few decades. Coronary heart disease accounts for the highest portion of cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States, followed by stroke and high blood pressure. The states with the highest death rates from cardiovascular disease include Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama. Smoking tobacco, physical inactivity, poor diet, stress, and being overweight or obese are all risk factors for developing heart disease.

Cancer

Although cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States, like deaths from cardiovascular disease, deaths from cancer have decreased over the last few decades. The highest death rates from cancer come from lung cancer for both men and women. Breast cancer is the second deadliest cancer for women, while prostate cancer is the second deadliest cancer for men. West Virginia, Mississippi, and Kentucky lead the nation with the highest cancer death rates.

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.

During the months December 2020, January 2021, and February 2021, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in the United States based on the average number of daily deaths. Heart disease and cancer are usually the number one and number two leading causes of death, respectively. This statistic shows the average number of daily deaths in the United States among the leading causes of death from March 2020 to September 2022.

The leading causes of death in the United States are by far cardiovascular diseases and cancer. However, the death rates from these diseases, as well as other leading causes of death, have decreased over the past few decades. The one major exception are deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease, which have increased significantly. Cardiovascular disease deaths Although cardiovascular diseases are currently the leading cause of death in the United States, the death rate of these diseases has dropped significantly. In the year 1950, there were around 589 deaths per 100,000 population due to cardiovascular diseases. In the year 2022, this number was 167.2 per 100,000 population. Risk factors for heart disease include smoking, poor diet, diabetes, obesity, stress, family history, and age. Alzheimer’s disease deaths While the death rates for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic lower respiratory diseases have all decreased, the death rate for Alzheimer’s disease has increased. In fact, from the year 2000 to 2021, the death rate from Alzheimer’s disease rose an astonishing 141 percent. This increase is in part due to a growing aging population.

Effective September 27, 2023, this dataset will no longer be updated. Similar data are accessible from wonder.cdc.gov.

Provisional counts of deaths by the month the death occurred and by select causes of death for 2020-2023.

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.

In 2022, the most significant cause of death among men in the United States was heart disease, which contributed to 22.5 percent of deaths. COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death among U.S. men in both 2020 and 2021, and the fourth leading cause in 2022. This statistic shows the distribution of the 10 leading causes of death among men in the United States from 2020 to 2022.

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.

The leading causes of death among Black residents in the United States in 2022 included diseases of the heart, cancer, unintentional injuries, and stroke. The leading causes of death for African Americans generally reflects the leading causes of death for the entire United States population. However, a major exception is that death from assault or homicide is the seventh leading cause of death among African Americans, but is not among the ten leading causes for the general population. Homicide among African Americans The homicide rate among African Americans has been higher than that of other races and ethnicities for many years. In 2023, around 9,284 Black people were murdered in the United States, compared to 7,289 white people. A majority of these homicides are committed with firearms, which are easily accessible in the United States. In 2022, around 14,189 Black people died by firearms. However, suicide deaths account for over half of all deaths from firearms in the United States. Cancer disparities There are also major disparities in access to health care and the impact of various diseases. For example, the incidence rate of cancer among African American males is the greatest among all ethnicities and races. Furthermore, although the incidence rate of cancer is lower among African American women than it is among white women, cancer death rates are still higher among African American women.

Note: DPH is updating and streamlining the COVID-19 cases, deaths, and testing data. As of 6/27/2022, the data will be published in four tables instead of twelve.

The COVID-19 Cases, Deaths, and Tests by Day dataset contains cases and test data by date of sample submission. The death data are by date of death. This dataset is updated daily and contains information back to the beginning of the pandemic. The data can be found at https://data.ct.gov/Health-and-Human-Services/COVID-19-Cases-Deaths-and-Tests-by-Day/g9vi-2ahj.

The COVID-19 State Metrics dataset contains over 93 columns of data. This dataset is updated daily and currently contains information starting June 21, 2022 to the present. The data can be found at https://data.ct.gov/Health-and-Human-Services/COVID-19-State-Level-Data/qmgw-5kp6 .

The COVID-19 County Metrics dataset contains 25 columns of data. This dataset is updated daily and currently contains information starting June 16, 2022 to the present. The data can be found at https://data.ct.gov/Health-and-Human-Services/COVID-19-County-Level-Data/ujiq-dy22 .

The COVID-19 Town Metrics dataset contains 16 columns of data. This dataset is updated daily and currently contains information starting June 16, 2022 to the present. The data can be found at https://data.ct.gov/Health-and-Human-Services/COVID-19-Town-Level-Data/icxw-cada . To protect confidentiality, if a town has fewer than 5 cases or positive NAAT tests over the past 7 days, those data will be suppressed.

COVID-19 cases and associated deaths that have been reported among Connecticut residents, broken down by race and ethnicity. All data in this report are preliminary; data for previous dates will be updated as new reports are received and data errors are corrected. Deaths reported to the either the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) or Department of Public Health (DPH) are included in the COVID-19 update.

The following data show the number of COVID-19 cases and associated deaths per 100,000 population by race and ethnicity. Crude rates represent the total cases or deaths per 100,000 people. Age-adjusted rates consider the age of the person at diagnosis or death when estimating the rate and use a standardized population to provide a fair comparison between population groups with different age distributions. Age-adjustment is important in Connecticut as the median age of among the non-Hispanic white population is 47 years, whereas it is 34 years among non-Hispanic blacks, and 29 years among Hispanics. Because most non-Hispanic white residents who died were over 75 years of age, the age-adjusted rates are lower than the unadjusted rates. In contrast, Hispanic residents who died tend to be younger than 75 years of age which results in higher age-adjusted rates.

The population data used to calculate rates is based on the CT DPH population statistics for 2019, which is available online here: https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Health-Information-Systems--Reporting/Population/Population-Statistics. Prior to 5/10/2021, the population estimates from 2018 were used.

Rates are standardized to the 2000 US Millions Standard population (data available here: https://seer.cancer.gov/stdpopulations/). Standardization was done using 19 age groups (0, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14, ..., 80-84, 85 years and older). More information about direct standardization for age adjustment is available here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/statnt/statnt06rv.pdf

Categories are mutually exclusive. The category “multiracial” includes people who answered ‘yes’ to more than one race category. Counts may not add up to total case counts as data on race and ethnicity may be missing. Age adjusted rates calculated only for groups with more than 20 deaths. Abbreviation: NH=Non-Hispanic.

Data on Connecticut deaths were obtained from the Connecticut Deaths Registry maintained by the DPH Office of Vital Records. Cause of death was determined by a death certifier (e.g., physician, APRN, medical examiner) using their best clinical judgment. Additionally, all COVID-19 deaths, including suspected or related, are required to be reported to OCME. On April 4, 2020, CT DPH and OCME released a joint memo to providers and facilities within Connecticut providing guidelines for certifying deaths due to COVID-19 that were consistent with the CDC’s guidelines and a reminder of the required reporting to OCME.25,26 As of July 1, 2021, OCME had reviewed every case reported and performed additional investigation on about one-third of reported deaths to better ascertain if COVID-19 did or did not cause or contribute to the death. Some of these investigations resulted in the OCME performing postmortem swabs for PCR testing on individuals whose deaths were suspected to be due to COVID-19, but antemortem diagnosis was unable to be made.31 The OCME issued or re-issued about 10% of COVID-19 death certificates and, when appropriate, removed COVID-19 from the death certificate. For standardization and tabulation of mortality statistics, written cause of death statements made by the certifiers on death certificates are sent to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the CDC which assigns cause of death codes according to the International Causes of Disease 10th Revision (ICD-10) classification system.25,26 COVID-19 deaths in this report are defined as those for which the death certificate has an ICD-10 code of U07.1 as either a primary (underlying) or a contributing cause of death. More information on COVID-19 mortality can be found at the following link: https://portal.ct.gov/DPH/Health-Information-Systems--Reporting/Mortality/Mortality-Statistics

Data are subject to future revision as reporting changes.

Starting in July 2020, this dataset will be updated every weekday.

Additional notes: A delay in the data pull schedule occurred on 06/23/2020. Data from 06/22/2020 was processed on 06/23/2020 at 3:30 PM. The normal data cycle resumed with the data for 06/23/2020.

A network outage on 05/19/2020 resulted in a change in the data pull schedule. Data from 5/19/2020 was processed on 05/20/2020 at 12:00 PM. Data from 5/20/2020 was processed on 5/20/2020 8:30 PM. The normal data cycle resumed on 05/20/2020 with the 8:30 PM data pull. As a result of the network outage, the timestamp on the datasets on the Open Data Portal differ from the timestamp in DPH's daily PDF reports.

Starting 5/10/2021, the date field will represent the date this data was updated on data.ct.gov. Previously the date the data was pulled by DPH was listed, which typically coincided with the date before the data was published on data.ct.gov. This change was made to standardize the COVID-19 data sets on data.ct.gov.

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.

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California as a whole based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.

The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to California residents (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.

The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.

In the United States, the leading causes of death among women are heart disease and cancer. Heart disease and cancer are similarly the leading causes of death among U.S. men. In 2022, heart disease accounted for 20.3 percent of all deaths among women in the United States, while cancer accounted for 18.5 percent of deaths. COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death among both men and women in 2020 and 2021, and the fourth leading cause in 2022. Cancer among women in the U.S. The most common types of cancer among U.S. women are breast, lung and bronchus, and colon and rectum. In 2024, there were around 310,720 new breast cancer cases among women, compared to 118,270 new cases of lung and bronchus cancer. Although breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in the United States, lung and bronchus cancer causes the highest number of cancer deaths. In 2024, around 59,280 women were expected to die from lung and bronchus cancer, compared to 42,250 from breast cancer. Breast cancer Although breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer among women, rates of death have decreased over the past few decades. This decrease is possibly due to early detection, progress in therapy, and increasing awareness of risk factors. In 2022, the death rate due to breast cancer was 18.7 per 100,000 population, compared to a rate of 33.3 per 100,000 in the year 1990. The state with the highest rate of deaths due to breast cancer is Delaware, while Massachusetts had the lowest rates. Massachusetts is also one of the states with the highest share of women receiving a breast cancer screening in the last two years.

Extracted in machine readable form from the AIHW Mortality Over Regions and Time (MORT) books. MORT books are Excel workbooks that contain recent deaths data for specific geographical areas, sourced …Show full descriptionExtracted in machine readable form from the AIHW Mortality Over Regions and Time (MORT) books. MORT books are Excel workbooks that contain recent deaths data for specific geographical areas, sourced from the AIHW National Mortality Database. They present summary deaths statistics by sex for each geographic area, including counts, rates, median age at death, premature deaths, potential years of life lost and potentially avoidable deaths. The workbooks also present leading causes of death by sex for each geographic area. The latest MORT books present data for 2018–2022. MORT books from previous years are available on the AIHW website. It should be noted that due to changes in geographical boundaries, disease definitions, cause of death data revisions, and revisions in population data over time, data presented in MORT books from previous years may not match that in later releases. For more information, please see Deaths data at AIHW or contact us at deaths@aihw.gov.au. Also available on data.gov.au are the AIHW General Record of Incidence of Mortality (GRIM) books.

In 2023, there were approximately 750.5 deaths by all causes per 100,000 inhabitants in the United States. This statistic shows the death rate for all causes in the United States between 1950 and 2023. Causes of death in the U.S. Over the past decades, chronic conditions and non-communicable diseases have come to the forefront of health concerns and have contributed to major causes of death all over the globe. In 2022, the leading cause of death in the U.S. was heart disease, followed by cancer. However, the death rates for both heart disease and cancer have decreased in the U.S. over the past two decades. On the other hand, the number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease – which is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease- has increased by almost 141 percent between 2000 and 2021. Risk and lifestyle factors Lifestyle factors play a major role in cardiovascular health and the development of various diseases and conditions. Modifiable lifestyle factors that are known to reduce risk of both cancer and cardiovascular disease among people of all ages include smoking cessation, maintaining a healthy diet, and exercising regularly. An estimated two million new cases of cancer in the U.S. are expected in 2025.

Analysis of ‘NCHS - VSRR Quarterly provisional estimates for selected indicators of mortality’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/ab329a72-4ce1-4b39-957b-9e0044d93d6e on 11 February 2022.

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

Provisional estimates of death rates. Estimates are presented for each of the 15 leading causes of death plus estimates for deaths attributed to drug overdose, falls (for persons aged 65 and over), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, homicide, and firearms-related deaths.

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

Analysis of ‘Population Health Measures: Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/ee3e6dd8-3d28-43b1-98e9-1d49f084649a on 12 February 2022.

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

Age-adjustment mortality rates are rates of deaths that are computed using a statistical method to create a metric based on the true death rate so that it can be compared over time for a single population (i.e. comparing 2006-2008 to 2010-2012), as well as enable comparisons across different populations with possibly different age distributions in their populations (i.e. comparing Hispanic residents to Asian residents).
Age adjustment methods applied to Montgomery County rates are consistent with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as well as Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Vital Statistics Administration (DHMH VSA). PHS Planning and Epidemiology receives an annual data file of Montgomery County resident deaths registered with Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Vital Statistics Administration (DHMH VSA).
Using SAS analytic software, MCDHHS standardizes, aggregates, and calculates age-adjusted rates for each of the leading causes of death category consistent with state and national methods and by subgroups based on age, gender, race, and ethnicity combinations. Data are released in compliance with Data Use Agreements between DHMH VSA and MCDHHS. This dataset will be updated Annually.

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

In 2021, the leading causes of death among veterans in the United States were heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19. Heart disease and cancer account for the majority of deaths among U.S. veterans, which is also true for people in the United States in general.

The leading causes of death among veterans vs the U.S. as a whole Although the leading causes of death for U.S. veterans are similar to the overall leading causes of death in the United States, there are some differences. For example, even though heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death for the entire United States and veterans specifically, death rates for both heart disease and cancer are much higher among veterans. In 2021, the death rate for heart disease among veterans was 267 per 100,000 population, compared to an overall rate of 167 per 100,000 population for the United States in 2022. Another clear difference is that while suicide was the seventh leading cause of death among veterans in 2021, it was not even among the leading ten causes of death for the United States as a whole.

Suicide among veterans Given the stressful and often dangerous work of U.S. military personnel, the mental health of U.S. veterans remains a prevalent issue. In 2021, it was estimated that around 10 percent of U.S. veterans had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, while three percent made suicide plans, and two percent attempted suicide. That year there were around 6,392 suicide deaths among veterans in the United States. Veterans suffering from substance use disorders or mental health conditions are much more likely to die from suicide than veterans who do not have such disorders.

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.

In 2022, heart disease was the leading cause of death among Hispanics in the United States, accounting for 17.3 percent of deaths, followed by cancer and accidents, which accounted for 17.1 and 10.4 percent of all deaths, respectively. COVID-19, cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes were also among the top 10 leading causes of death among Hispanics in the United States. Cancer among Hispanics Cancer (malignant neoplasms) is the second leading cause of death in the United States as of 2022. In 2021, there were 22,300 deaths among Hispanic males attributed to cancer, compared to 20,700 deaths among Hispanic females. The most common treatments for cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Hispanic healthcare Access to health care and health insurance remains a problem for many Hispanics in the United States. In 2022, around 36 percent of Hispanic men reported having no personal doctor or health care provider. Furthermore, as of 2022, around 41 percent of children without health insurance were Hispanic.