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The National Vital Statistics System analyzes ~2.8 million records each year to produce timely and accurate information on death and its causes in the United States.
National-level mortality data help track the characteristics of those who have died, monitor and make decisions about public health challenges, determine life expectancy, and compare death trends with other countries. Learn more
Leading Causes
Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2024
Age-adjusted death rate for the 10 leading causes of death in 2022: United States, 2021 and 20221 Statistically significant decrease from 2021 to 2022 (p < 0.05).
2 Statistically significant increase from 2021 to 2022 (p < 0.05).
NOTES: A total of 3,279,857 resident deaths were registered in the United States in 2022. The 10 leading causes of death accounted for 72.3% of all U.S. deaths in 2022. Causes of death are ranked according to number of deaths. Rankings for 2021 data are not shown. Data table for Figure 4 includes the number of deaths for leading causes and the percentage of total deaths. Access data table for Figure 4 .
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data file.
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