Leading cause of death in the US

Creator: USAFacts

Insights

The visualization looks at the leading cause of deaths among four different age groups across two time periods (2001-2002 and 2020-2021). The data is represented for each of the US state.

• In the age group of 1 to 17, it appears that the leading cause of death has changed from transport accident (49/50 states) to a mix of transport accidents, suicides, homicides and cancer.

• For the age group 18-44, the shift has been towards deaths related to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in 2020-2021, while it was never a leading cause of death in any state in 2001-2002.

• In the age group of 65+, during both the timeframes, the leading case of has been major cardiovascular diseases in all 50 states of the US.

It should be noted that the visual shows the “leading cause of death” and there could be other causes that are significant too.

Also, since 2001-2002, there has been a vast improvement in vehicle and road safety technology and regulations. This would have reduced deaths related to transport accidents and allowed other causes to come into the limelight.

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