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

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 2005 through 2015, including detailed information about causes of death and the demographic background of the deceased.

It's been said that "statistics are human beings with the tears wiped off." This is especially true with this dataset. Each death record represents somebody's loved one, often connected with a lifetime of memories and sometimes tragically too short.

Putting the sensitive nature of the topic aside, analyzing mortality data is essential to understanding the complex circumstances of death across the country. The US Government uses this data to determine life expectancy and understand how death in the U.S. differs from the rest of the world. Whether you’re looking for macro trends or analyzing unique circumstances, we challenge you to use this dataset to find your own answers to one of life’s great mysteries.

Overview

This dataset is a collection of CSV files each containing one year's worth of data and paired JSON files containing the code mappings, plus an ICD 10 code set. The CSVs were reformatted from their original fixed-width file formats using information extracted from the CDC's PDF manuals using this script. Please note that this process may have introduced errors as the text extracted from the pdf is not a perfect match. If you have any questions or find errors in the preparation process, please leave a note in the forums. We hope to publish additional years of data using this method soon.

A more detailed overview of the data can be found here. You'll find that the fields are consistent within this time window, but some of data codes change every few years. For example, the 113_cause_recode entry 069 only covers ICD codes (I10,I12) in 2005, but by 2015 it covers (I10,I12,I15). When I post data from years prior to 2005, expect some of the fields themselves to change as well.

All data comes from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Systems, with the exception of the Icd10Code, which are sourced from the World Health Organization.

Project ideas

• The CDC's mortality data was the basis of a widely publicized paper, by Anne Case and Nobel prize winner Angus Deaton, arguing that middle-aged whites are dying at elevated rates. One of the criticisms against the paper is that it failed to properly account for the exact ages within the broad bins available through the CDC's WONDER tool. What do these results look like with exact/not-binned age data?
• Similarly, how sensitive are the mortality trends being discussed in the news to the choice of bin-widths?
• As noted above, the data preparation process could have introduced errors. Can you find any discrepancies compared to the aggregate metrics on WONDER? If so, please let me know in the forums!
• WONDER is cited in numerous economics, sociology, and public health research papers. Can you find any papers whose conclusions would be altered if they used the exact data available here rather than binned data from Wonder?

Differences from the first version of the dataset

• This version of the dataset was prepared in a completely different many. This has allowed us to provide a much larger volume of data and ensure that codes are available for every field.
• We've replaced the batch of sql files with a single JSON per year. Kaggle's platform currently offer's better support for JSON files, and this keeps the number of files manageable.
• A tutorial kernel providing a quick introduction to the new format is available here.
• Lastly, I apologize if the transition has interrupted anyone's work! If need be, you can still download v1.

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California counties 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 each California county regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to residents of each California county (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in each county 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.

Number of deaths and age-specific mortality rates for selected grouped causes, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. Infant Mortality is defined as the number of deaths in infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality is often used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a community, because factors affecting the health of entire populations can also impact the mortality rate of infants. Although California’s infant mortality rate is better than the national average, there are significant disparities, with African American babies dying at more than twice the rate of other groups. Data are from the Birth Cohort Files. The infant mortality indicator computed from the birth cohort file comprises birth certificate information on all births that occur in a calendar year (denominator) plus death certificate information linked to the birth certificate for those infants who were born in that year but subsequently died within 12 months of birth (numerator). Studies of infant mortality that are based on information from death certificates alone have been found to underestimate infant death rates for infants of all race/ethnic groups and especially for certain race/ethnic groups, due to problems such as confusion about event registration requirements, incomplete data, and transfers of newborns from one facility to another for medical care. Note there is a separate data table "Infant Mortality by Race/Ethnicity" which is based on death records only, which is more timely but less accurate than the Birth Cohort File. Single year shown to provide state-level data and county totals for the most recent year. Numerator: Infants deaths (under age 1 year). Denominator: Live births occurring to California state residents. Multiple years aggregated to allow for stratification at the county level. For this indicator, race/ethnicity is based on the birth certificate information, which records the race/ethnicity of the mother. The mother can “decline to state”; this is considered to be a valid response. These responses are not displayed on the indicator visualization.

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.

Table of directly (DSR) age-standardised rates of suicides per 100,000 population, and Indirectly (SMR) (Includes undetermined Injuries), all ages and age 15 plus, three year (pooled) average and annual, by sex. Deaths from intentional self-harm and injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted (ICD-10 X60-X84, Y10-Y34 exc Y33.9, ICD-9 E950-E959 and E980-E989 exc E988.8), registered in the respective calendar year(s). DSR stands for Directly age-Standardised Rates. Mortality rates are age standardised using the European Standard Population as defined by the World Health Organisation. 3 year average rates are calculated as the average of single year rates for 3 successive years. Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR), England = 100. The annual rates at borough level are likely to be subject to relatively high levels of variability of numbers of suicides from year to year because of the relatively small numebrs of suicides that occur within boroughs. When comparing boroughs against each other, the three-year combined rate would provide a higher level of confidence. NHS mental health information can be found here. Various other suicide indicators are available from IC NHS website, including years of life lost, crude death rates, and indirectly standardised ratios (SMR). Follow: Compendium of population health indicators > Illness and Condition > Mental health and behavioural disorders

TABLE III. Deaths in 122 U.S. cities – 2016. 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System — Each week, the vital statistics offices of 122 cities across the United States report the total number of death certificates processed and the number of those for which pneumonia or influenza was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of death by age group (Under 28 days, 28 days –1 year, 1-14 years, 15-24 years, 25-44 years, 45-64 years, 65-74 years, 75-84 years, and ≥ 85 years).

FOOTNOTE: U: Unavailable. —: No reported cases. * Mortality data in this table are voluntarily reported from 122 cities in the United States, most of which have populations of 100,000 or more. A death is reported by the place of its occurrence and by the week that the death certificate was filed. Fetal deaths are not included.

† Pneumonia and influenza.

§ Total includes unknown ages.

Background: Mortality rate rapidly decreases with age after birth, and, simultaneously, the spectrum of death causes show remarkable changes with age. This study analyzed age-associated decreases in mortality rate from diseases of all main chapters of the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases.Methods: The number of deaths was extracted from the mortality database of the World Health Organization. As zero cases could be ascertained for a specific age category, the Halley method was used to calculate the mortality rates in all possible calendar years and in all countries combined.Results: All causes mortality from the 1st day of life to the age of 10 years can be represented by an inverse proportion model with a single parameter. High coefficients of determination were observed for total mortality in all populations (arithmetic mean = 0.9942 and standard deviation = 0.0039).Slower or no mortality decrease with age was detected in the 1st year of life, while the inverse proportion method was valid for the age range [1, 10) years in most of all main chapters with three exceptions. The decrease was faster for the chapter “Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period” (XVI).The inverse proportion was valid already from the 1st day for the chapter “Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities” (XVII).The shape of the mortality decrease was very different for the chapter “Neoplasms” (II) and the rates of mortality from neoplasms were age-independent in the age range [1, 10) years in all populations.Conclusion: The theory of congenital individual risks of death is presented and can explain the results. If it is valid, latent congenital impairments may be present among all cases of death that are not related to congenital impairments. All results are based on published data, and the data are presented as a supplement.

This dataset includes the count and rate per 100,000 Virginia residents of injury deaths among Virginia residents, only whether or not they died in state. City/county is based on the place of residence at time of death. Deaths are counted from vital records death certificate data. Data set includes injury death counts and rates for years 2018 through the most recent data year available. When data set is downloaded, the years will be sorted in ascending order, meaning that the earliest year will be at the top. To see data for the most recent year, please scroll down to the bottom of the data set.

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 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. 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 contains counts of deaths for California residents by ZIP Code based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths of California residents. The data tables include deaths of residents of California by ZIP Code of residence (by residence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age and gender. 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.

Provisional deaths registration data for single year of age and average age of death (median and mean) of persons whose death involved coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales. Includes deaths due to COVID-19 and breakdowns by sex.

Annual data on death registrations by area of usual residence in the UK. Summary tables including age-standardised mortality rates.

Background: Recent studies have described a low occurrence of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in Latin America. Significant differences in ALS risk have been reported among ethnic populations in the region. We conducted a meta-analysis using population-based data to describe ALS mortality rates in Latin America. We explored sources of heterogeneity among key covariates. Methods: National mortality registries from Latin American countries were searched to identify ALS deaths according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9: code 335.2 and ICD-10: code G12.2). Crude and standardized mortality rates were calculated. A random-effect meta-analysis was conducted to estimate pooled mortality rates. Subgroup analysis was performed as a means of investigating heterogeneity. Results: Overall, 28,548 ALS deaths and 819 million person-years of follow-up (PYFU) from ten Latin American countries were considered. Standardized mortality varied among countries. The highest mortality rates were observed in Uruguay and Costa Rica at 1.3 and 1.2 per 100,000 PYFU, respectively. The pooled crude mortality rate was 0.38 (95%CI: 0.28–0.53) and the pooled standardized mortality was 0.62 (95%CI: 0.49–0.77) per 100,000 PYFU. Heterogeneity was high (I2: 99.9%, Cochran’s Q p 

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.

The interannual variability of SMR for a given administrative unit might be large under small populations. Indeed, being the SMR a rate standardized over the population size, the expected mortality (i.e., Em) in small populations will result low (say 10-2) and in turn, according to eq. (1), even a few deaths (say 1 or 2) in a year could yield a relatively high SMR as shown in Figure 3. For this reason, we recommend avoiding using single-year estimates and using the average SMR and/or lower 90% or 95% confidence intervals.

Reporting of Aggregate Case and Death Count data was discontinued on May 11, 2023, with the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration. Although these data will continue to be publicly available, this dataset will no longer be updated.

The surveillance case definition for COVID-19, a nationally notifiable disease, was first described in a position statement from the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists, which was later revised. However, there is some variation in how jurisdictions implemented these case definitions. More information on how CDC collects COVID-19 case surveillance data can be found at FAQ: COVID-19 Data and Surveillance.

Aggregate Data Collection Process Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, data were reported from state and local health departments through a robust process with the following steps:

• Aggregate county-level counts were obtained indirectly, via automated overnight web collection, or directly, via a data submission process.
• If more than one official county data source existed, CDC used a comprehensive data selection process comparing each official county data source to retrieve the highest case and death counts, unless otherwise specified by the state.
• A CDC data team reviewed counts for congruency prior to integration and set up alerts to monitor for discrepancies in the data.
• CDC routinely compiled these data and post the finalized information on COVID Data Tracker.
• County level data were aggregated to obtain state- and territory- specific totals.
• Counting of cases and deaths is based on date of report and not on the date of symptom onset. CDC calculates rates in these data by using population estimates provided by the US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (2019 Vintage).
• COVID-19 aggregate case and death data are organized in a time series that includes cumulative number of cases and deaths as reported by a jurisdiction on a given date. New case and death counts are calculated as the week-to-week change in cumulative counts of cases and deaths reported (i.e., newly reported cases and deaths = cumulative number of cases/deaths reported this week minus the cumulative total reported the prior week.

This process was collaborative, with CDC and jurisdictions working together to ensure the accuracy of COVID-19 case and death numbers. County counts provided the most up-to-date numbers on cases and deaths by report date. Throughout data collection, CDC retrospectively updated counts to correct known data quality issues.

Description This archived public use dataset focuses on the cumulative and weekly case and death rates per 100,000 persons within various sociodemographic factors across all states and their counties. All resulting data are expressed as rates calculated as the number of cases or deaths per 100,000 persons in counties meeting various classification criteria using the US Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (2019 Vintage).

Each county within jurisdictions is classified into multiple categories for each factor. All rates in this dataset are based on classification of counties by the characteristics of their population, not individual-level factors. This applies to each of the available factors observed in this dataset. Specific factors and their corresponding categories are detailed below.

Population-level factors Each unique population factor is detailed below. Please note that the “Classification” column describes each of the 12 factors in the dataset, including a data dictionary describing what each numeric digit means within each classification. The “Category” column uses numeric digits (2-6, depending on the factor) defined in the “Classification” column.

Metro vs. Non-Metro – “Metro_Rural” Metro vs. Non-Metro classification type is an aggregation of the 6 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Urban-Rural classifications, where “Metro” counties include Large Central Metro, Large Fringe Metro, Medium Metro, and Small Metro areas and “Non-Metro” counties include Micropolitan and Non-Core (Rural) areas. 1 – Metro, including “Large Central Metro, Large Fringe Metro, Medium Metro, and Small Metro” areas 2 – Non-Metro, including “Micropolitan, and Non-Core” areas

Urban/rural - “NCHS_Class” Urban/rural classification type is based on the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. Levels consist of:

1 Large Central Metro
2 Large Fringe Metro 3 Medium Metro 4 Small Metro 5 Micropolitan 6 Non-Core (Rural)

American Community Survey (ACS) data were used to classify counties based on their age, race/ethnicity, household size, poverty level, and health insurance status distributions. Cut points were generated by using tertiles and categorized as High, Moderate, and Low percentages. The classification “Percent non-Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander” is only available for “Hawaii” due to low numbers in this category for other available locations. This limitation also applies to other race/ethnicity categories within certain jurisdictions, where 0 counties fall into the certain category. The cut points for each ACS category are further detailed below:

Age 65 - “Age65”

1 Low (0-24.4%) 2 Moderate (>24.4%-28.6%) 3 High (>28.6%)

Non-Hispanic, Asian - “NHAA”

1 Low (<=5.7%) 2 Moderate (>5.7%-17.4%) 3 High (>17.4%)

Non-Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native - “NHIA”

1 Low (<=0.7%) 2 Moderate (>0.7%-30.1%) 3 High (>30.1%)

Non-Hispanic, Black - “NHBA”

1 Low (<=2.5%) 2 Moderate (>2.5%-37%) 3 High (>37%)

Hispanic - “HISP”

1 Low (<=18.3%) 2 Moderate (>18.3%-45.5%) 3 High (>45.5%)

Population in Poverty - “Pov”

1 Low (0-12.3%) 2 Moderate (>12.3%-17.3%) 3 High (>17.3%)

Population Uninsured- “Unins”

1 Low (0-7.1%) 2 Moderate (>7.1%-11.4%) 3 High (>11.4%)

Average Household Size - “HH”

1 Low (1-2.4) 2 Moderate (>2.4-2.6) 3 High (>2.6)

Community Vulnerability Index Value - “CCVI” COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) scores are from Surgo Ventures, which range from 0 to 1, were generated based on tertiles and categorized as:

1 Low Vulnerability (0.0-0.4) 2 Moderate Vulnerability (0.4-0.6) 3 High Vulnerability (0.6-1.0)

Social Vulnerability Index Value – “SVI" Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) scores (vintage 2020), which also range from 0 to 1, are from CDC/ASTDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Service Program. Cut points for CCVI and SVI scores were generated based on tertiles and categorized as:

1 Low Vulnerability (0-0.333) 2 Moderate Vulnerability (0.334-0.666) 3 High Vulnerability (0.667-1)

Time series data for the statistic Survival Rate from Age 15-60, Female and country France. Indicator Definition:Adult Survival Rate is calculated by subtracting the mortality rate for 15-60 year-olds from 1. Most recent estimates are used. Year of most recent estimate shown in data notes.

Data for deaths by leading cause of death categories are now available in the death profiles dataset for each geographic granularity.

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.

Cause of death categories for years 1999 and later are based on tenth revision of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes. Comparable categories are provided for years 1979 through 1998 based on ninth revision (ICD-9) codes. For more information on the comparability of cause of death classification between ICD revisions see Comparability of Cause-of-death Between ICD Revisions.