Causes of mortality in United States

United States: Causes of mortality was 3.09 million Deaths in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
3.09 million Deaths
Change on year
down 5.8%
World rank
1st
of 36 countries
All-time high
3.46 million Deaths
in 2021
All-time low
1.70 million Deaths
in 1961
Years of data
64
1960–2023

Causes of mortality in United States, 1960–2023

01.0M2.0M3.0M196019912023

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Measured in Deaths.

Analysis

The most recent figure for causes of mortality in United States is 3.09 million Deaths, measured in 2023.

The figure is down 5.8% on the previous year and up 19.0% over ten years.

Over the whole period, causes of mortality in United States peaked at 3.46 million Deaths in 2021 and was at its lowest, 1.70 million Deaths, in 1961.

United States ranks 1st of 36 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.

Causes of mortality in United States, year by year

Annual values for Causes of mortality in United States, 1960 to 2023.
Year Deaths Change
1960 1.71 million Deaths —
1961 1.70 million Deaths -0.6%
1962 1.76 million Deaths +3.2%
1963 1.81 million Deaths +3.2%
1964 1.80 million Deaths -0.9%
1965 1.83 million Deaths +1.7%
1966 1.86 million Deaths +1.9%
1967 1.85 million Deaths -0.6%
1968 1.93 million Deaths +4.3%
1969 1.92 million Deaths -0.4%
1970 1.92 million Deaths -0.0%
1971 1.93 million Deaths +0.3%
1972 1.96 million Deaths +1.9%
1973 1.97 million Deaths +0.5%
1974 1.93 million Deaths -2.0%
1975 1.89 million Deaths -2.1%
1976 1.91 million Deaths +0.9%
1977 1.90 million Deaths -0.5%
1978 1.93 million Deaths +1.5%
1979 1.91 million Deaths -0.7%
1980 1.99 million Deaths +4.0%
1981 1.98 million Deaths -0.6%
1982 1.97 million Deaths -0.2%
1983 2.02 million Deaths +2.2%
1984 2.04 million Deaths +1.0%
1985 2.09 million Deaths +2.3%
1986 2.11 million Deaths +0.9%
1987 2.12 million Deaths +0.9%
1988 2.17 million Deaths +2.1%
1989 2.15 million Deaths -0.8%
1990 2.15 million Deaths -0.1%
1991 2.17 million Deaths +1.0%
1992 2.18 million Deaths +0.3%
1993 2.27 million Deaths +4.3%
1994 2.28 million Deaths +0.5%
1995 2.31 million Deaths +1.5%
1996 2.31 million Deaths +0.1%
1997 2.31 million Deaths -0.0%
1998 2.34 million Deaths +1.0%
1999 2.39 million Deaths +2.3%
2000 2.40 million Deaths +0.5%
2001 2.42 million Deaths +0.5%
2002 2.44 million Deaths +1.1%
2003 2.45 million Deaths +0.2%
2004 2.40 million Deaths -2.1%
2005 2.45 million Deaths +2.1%
2006 2.43 million Deaths -0.9%
2007 2.42 million Deaths -0.1%
2008 2.47 million Deaths +2.0%
2009 2.44 million Deaths -1.4%
2010 2.47 million Deaths +1.3%
2011 2.52 million Deaths +1.9%
2012 2.54 million Deaths +1.1%
2013 2.60 million Deaths +2.1%
2014 2.63 million Deaths +1.1%
2015 2.71 million Deaths +3.3%
2016 2.74 million Deaths +1.2%
2017 2.81 million Deaths +2.5%
2018 2.84 million Deaths +0.9%
2019 2.85 million Deaths +0.6%
2020 3.38 million Deaths +18.5%
2021 3.46 million Deaths +2.4%
2022 3.28 million Deaths -5.3%
2023 3.09 million Deaths -5.8%

United States compared with similar countries

  • United States's 3.09 million Deaths is above the median for high income countries, which is 115,390 Deaths, 26.8× the median. (30 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 1.82 million Deaths 1.70 million Deaths 1.93 million Deaths 10
1970s 1.93 million Deaths 1.89 million Deaths 1.97 million Deaths 10
1980s 2.06 million Deaths 1.97 million Deaths 2.17 million Deaths 10
1990s 2.27 million Deaths 2.15 million Deaths 2.39 million Deaths 10
2000s 2.43 million Deaths 2.40 million Deaths 2.47 million Deaths 10
2010s 2.67 million Deaths 2.47 million Deaths 2.85 million Deaths 10
2020s 3.30 million Deaths 3.09 million Deaths 3.46 million Deaths 4

Countries ranked near United States

  1. 1 Türkiye 525,814 Deaths compare
  2. 2 Russia 1.80 million Deaths compare
  3. 2 Poland 408,504 Deaths compare
  4. 3 Croatia 51,275 Deaths compare
  5. 3 Japan 1.58 million Deaths compare
  6. 3 Netherlands 172,165 Deaths compare
  7. 4 Lithuania 37,453 Deaths compare
  8. 4 Brazil 1.47 million Deaths compare

See the full ranking of 46 places →

More health data for United States

All data for United States →

Frequently asked questions

What is causes of mortality in United States?
Causes of mortality in United States was 3.09 million Deaths in 2023, according to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
What is the highest causes of mortality recorded in United States?
The highest recorded value was 3.46 million Deaths in 2021.
What is the lowest causes of mortality recorded in United States?
The lowest recorded value was 1.70 million Deaths in 1961.
How does United States rank for causes of mortality?
United States ranks 1st out of 36 countries with data for 2023.
Is causes of mortality rising or falling in United States?
Over the last ten years it is up 19.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this United States data come from?
The figures come from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as part of Causes of mortality. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

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Causes of mortality in United States. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 14 October 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/stat/causes-of-mortality/united-states/

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About this data

Indicator
Causes of mortality
Unit
Deaths
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
46 places, 2,503 data points, 1960–2024
Last refreshed

This dataset presents the number of deaths and age-standardised death rates by causes of deaths. The number of deaths according to sex and selected causes are extracted from the World Health Organization Mortality Database available at https://www.who.int/data/data-collection-tools/who-mortality-database. Detailed information on the coverage and reliability of the cause-of-death data is regularly published in World Health Statistics Annuals. The selected causes of death presented in the OECD Health Statistics database are detailed in an Excel file available for download, with codes according to the Tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) along with codes from other ICD revisions used in the WHO Mortality Database. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.