Selected Causes of Death in the US

Causes of Death in the US, 2020 (Unless otherwise indicated)
Cause of Death Number
   
All Causes 3,383,729
   
Major Cardiovascular Diseases (MCD) 923237
   Diseases of Heart [subset of MCD]    696,962
   Cerebrovascular Diseases [subset of MCD]    160,264
   Essential Hypertension and Hypertensive Renal Disease [subset of MCD]    41,907
Malignant Neoplasms [Cancer] 602,350
Accidents (Unintentional Injuries) [Total] 200,955
   Motor Vehicle Accidents [subset of Total Accidents]    42,339
Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 152,657
Alzheimer's Disease 134,242
Diabetes Mellitus 102,188
Drug-Induced Deaths2 96,096
Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome and Nephrosis 52,547
Influenza and Pneumonia 53,544
Intentional Self-Harm (Suicide) 45,979
Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis 51,642
   Alcoholic Liver Disease [subset of Chronic Liver Disease and Cirrhosis]    29,505
Septicemia 40,050
Injury by Firearms 45,222
Alcohol-Induced Deaths 49,061
Parkinson Disease 40,284
Pneumonitis Due to Solids and Liquids 18,327
Assault (Homicide) 24,576
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Disease 5,115
Viral Hepatitis 3,943
 
Deaths Attributed to Tobacco Smoking (Each year from 2005 through 2009)1 480,320
Medical Errors (2013 estimate) 251,454
 
All Illicit Drugs Combined (2000)3 17,0002
Cannabis (Marijuana)4 0
 
2016 Data Detailing Drug-Induced Deaths, Breaking Out Specific Data for Natural and Semi-Synthetic Opioids (including Oxycodone), Synthetic Opioids (including Fentanyl), and Heroin, as Reported by the CDC7
Total Deaths Attributed to Drug Overdose 63,632
Overdose Deaths Involving Any Opioid 42,249
Overdose Deaths Involving Heroin 15,469
Overdose Deaths Involving Natural and Semi-Synthetic Opioids 14,487
Overdose Deaths Involving Methadone 3,373
Overdose Deaths Involving Synthetic Opioids Other Than Methadone 19,413
2014 Data Detailing Drug-Induced Deaths, Breaking Out Specific Data for Prescription Analgesics and Heroin, as Reported by the CDC5
Drug Overdose Total 47,055
Deaths Involving Pharmaceutical Opioid Analgesics 18,893
Deaths Involving Heroin 10,574
 
2010 Drug Overdose Mortality Data In Detail, Reported By Paulozzi et al.6
Drug Overdose Total 38,329
Deaths Involving Pharmaceutical Drugs 22,134
Deaths Involving Pharmaceutical Opioids 16,651

1 Estimated number of deaths annually 2005-2009. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

2 Re drug-induced deaths: "This category includes deaths from poisoning and medical conditions caused by use of legal or illegal drugs, as well as deaths from poisoning due to medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes deaths indirectly related to drug use, as well as newborn deaths due to the mother's drug use."

3 Mokdad, Ali H., PhD, James S. Marks, MD, MPH, Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc, Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," Journal of the American Medical Association, (March 10, 2004), G225 Vol. 291, No. 10, 1242.

4 No recorded cases of overdose deaths from cannabis have been found in extensive literature reviews, see for example Gable, Robert S., "The Toxicity of Recreational Drugs," American Scientist (Research Triangle Park, NC: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, May-June 2006) Vol. 94, No. 3, p. 207.

5 CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality File, 2015, last accessed Dec. 11, 2015.

6 Paulozzi et al analyzed mortality figures and found that of 38,329 drug overdose deaths then reported in 2010, pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 22,134 deaths, of which 16,651 were opiod analgesic overdoses. The data were apparently revised slightly between the time the research letter was published in JAMA (February 2013) and release of the CDC's Deaths: Final Data for 2010 publication report, officially dated May 8, 2013.

7 Hedegaard H, Warner M, Miniño AM. Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 294. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017.

Source

Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2020. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 72 no 10. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2023. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:131355.
Hedegaard H, Warner M, Miniño AM. Drug overdose deaths in the United States, 1999–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 294. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017.
CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality File, 2015, last accessed Dec. 11, 2015.
Hedegaard H, Chen LH, Warner M. Drug poisoning deaths involving heroin: United States, 2000–2013. NCHS data brief, no 190. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2015.
Chen LH, Hedegaard H, Warner M. Drug-poisoning deaths involving opioid analgesics: United States, 1999–2011. NCHS data brief no. 166. Hyattsville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014, p. 1.
Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, Karin A. Mack, PhD, and Leonard J. Paulozzi, MD, "Pharmaceutical Overdose Deaths, United States, 2010," Journal of the American Medical Association, February 20, 2013, Vol 309, No. 7, p. 658.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014. Printed with corrections, January 2014, p. 660, Table 12.4
Makary Martin A, Daniel Michael. Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US. British Medical Journal 2016; 353 :i2139.