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In 1900, the most common causes of death were infectious diseases, which brought death quickly. Due to advances in healthcare and medicine over the years, this has changed, alongside an increase in average life expectancy. As a result of discrepancies in causes of death around the world, life expectancies vary globally. In Japan, the average life expectancy is 84.95 years, while in the United States, the average life expectancy is 79.74 years. Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy at 85.83 years (88.66 for females and 83 for males), and Chad has the lowest life expectancy at 53.68 years (55.41 for females and 52.01 for males) (Worldometer, 2023).
The Global Burden of Disease is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal The Lancet. Deaths from causes such as infectious disease, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies, and neonatal and maternal deaths are common—and in some cases, dominant—across low- and middle-income nations. In Kenya, for example, the leading cause of death remains diarrheal diseases. In South Africa and Botswana, the leading cause of death is HIV/AIDS. In high-income countries, however, the share of deaths caused by these is very low (Our World in Data, 2019). Accidents have become more common in the U.S. than in previous years, often resulting in quick or unexpected death.
The 10 leading causes of death and the number of deaths per category in 2021 in the United States are listed below (CDC, 2021).
| Cause | Number of Deaths in the U.S. |
|---|---|
| Heart disease | 695,547 |
| Cancer | 605,213 |
| COVID-19 | 416,893 |
| Accidents | 224,935 |
| Stroke | 162,890 |
| Chronic respiratory diseases | 142,342 |
| Alzheimer’s disease | 119,399 |
| Diabetes | 103,294 |
| Chronic liver disease | 56,585 |
| Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis | 54,358 |
Worldwide, the primary causes of death are cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and neonatal conditions. The World Health Organization groups causes of death into three primary categories: communicable (infectious diseases, parasitic diseases, maternal conditions, and nutritional conditions), noncommunicable (chronic conditions), and injuries. Globally, in 2019, 70% of deaths were a result of noncommunicable diseases. However, in 2020, the World Health Organization reported that an estimated 3 million people died as a result of COVID-19, a communicable disease.
The major causes of death vary significantly among age groups. Congenital diseases and accidents are major causes of death among children, then accidents and suicides are the leading causes of death between ages 10 and 24. This changes again into middle and late adulthood, as heart disease and cancer combined cause over 50% of deaths for those aged between 45 and 65.
Unintentional injuries (accidents), for example, were found to be the third most common cause of death within the United States population, but it becomes apparent from the graphic above that it is the most common for the widest range of age groups. Heart disease was found to be the most common cause of death overall, but this list shows that it is more restricted to one age group (65+) than other causes. Similarly, cancer was found to be the second most common cause of death within the United States population, but this list reveals that it is most prevalent for individuals in middle to late adulthood.
While COVID-19 was a major cause of death from 2020–2023, age was a major factor in the outcome of the virus. Children recovered quicker and had less severe symptoms than older adults, only accounting for 1% of deaths from the virus in the United States. Older adults, ages 65 and older, accounted for 75.7% of all COVID-19 deaths from 2020–2023 (CDC, 2023).
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REFERENCES
Worldometer. (2023). Life expectancy of the world population. www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
Our World in Data. (2019). Causes of death, world, 2019. Global Burden of Disease. ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2021). Underlying cause of death, 2018-2021, single race results: Deaths occurring through 2021. wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D158;jsessionid=78D6EE4A655DA54A9FD4327545A0
World Health Organization. (n.d.-a). The top 10 causes of death. World Health Organization. www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
