What do young Americans aged 15 to 24 die of most often?
In the 12 months through June 2025, unintentional injuries (which include accidental overdoses and traffic crashes) were the leading cause of death for Americans aged 15 to 24, at 24.0 deaths per 100,000 people that age. Suicide (13.4) and homicide (10.0) came next. Deaths from disease are rare at this age. The numbers are provisional.
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Key facts
Measure: Deaths per 100,000 people aged 15 to 24 in a year. Written from the data below.
- Unintentional injuries has the highest figure, 24, followed by Suicide (13.4) and Homicide (10).
- COVID-19 has the lowest figure, 0.1, followed by Stroke (0.4) and Chronic lower respiratory diseases (0.5).
- The highest is 240 times the lowest.
Source and date
- Data as of
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Citation
Chartly. “What do young Americans aged 15 to 24 die of most often?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Quarterly provisional estimates of mortality, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/mortality-dashboard.htm (data as of June 30, 2025). https://chart.ly/charts/causes-of-death-ages-15-to-24 (accessed October 15, 2026).
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The data
Download data (CSV)The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.
| Cause of death | Deaths per 100,000 people aged 15 to 24 in a year |
|---|---|
| Unintentional injuries | 24 |
| Suicide | 13.4 |
| Homicide | 10 |
| Cancer | 3.1 |
| Heart disease | 1.9 |
| Diabetes | 0.6 |
| Influenza and pneumonia | 0.6 |
| Chronic lower respiratory diseases | 0.5 |
| Stroke | 0.4 |
| COVID-19 | 0.1 |
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