How does heart disease compare with cancer as a cause of death in the US?

In 1950 there were about 3 heart disease deaths for every cancer death in the US. By 2018 there were 1.1, because the heart disease death rate fell much faster than the cancer rate; around 2012 the two came within a few percent of each other. Heart disease has had the higher rate in every year since 1900. The ratio compares age-adjusted death rates from one CDC dataset, which stops at 2018.

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Key facts

Measure: Heart disease deaths for each cancer death (ratio of age-adjusted rates). Written from the data below.

  • The latest figure, for 2018, is 1.1.
  • That is down 52% from 2.31 in 1900.
  • The highest was 3.09 in 1943.
  • The lowest was 1.02 in 2012.

Source and date

Source
CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Age-adjusted death rates for selected major causes of death
License
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How does heart disease compare with cancer as a cause of death in the US?” Chart. Data: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Age-adjusted death rates for selected major causes of death, https://data.cdc.gov/National-Center-for-Health-Statistics/NCHS-Age-adjusted-Death-Rates-for-Selected-Major-C/6rkc-nb2q (data as of December 31, 2018). https://chart.ly/charts/heart-disease-vs-cancer-deaths (accessed October 15, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly.

Year Heart disease deaths for each cancer death (ratio of age-adjusted rates)
1900 2.31
1901 2.31
1902 2.38
1903 2.43
1904 2.59
1905 2.47
1906 2.53
1907 2.68
1908 2.44
1909 2.38
1910 2.41
1911 2.43
1912 2.39
1913 2.29
1914 2.36
1915 2.42
1916 2.45
1917 2.51
1918 2.47
1919 2.21
1920 2.36
1921 2.24
1922 2.37
1923 2.43
1924 2.41
1925 2.49
1926 2.63
1927 2.52
1928 2.69
1929 2.72
1930 2.68
1931 2.61
1932 2.69
1933 2.71
1934 2.77
1935 2.76
1936 2.92
1937 2.92
1938 2.85
1939 2.86
1940 2.97
1941 2.92
1942 2.89
1943 3.09
1944 2.94
1945 2.85
1946 2.82
1947 2.9
1948 2.84
1949 3
1950 3.04
1951 3.01
1952 2.93
1953 2.93
1954 2.8
1955 2.86
1956 2.87
1957 2.91
1958 2.94
1959 2.88
1960 2.88
1961 2.82
1962 2.88
1963 2.89
1964 2.81
1965 2.77
1966 2.75
1967 2.66
1968 2.67
1969 2.6
1970 2.48
1971 2.47
1972 2.45
1973 2.41
1974 2.28
1975 2.15
1976 2.11
1977 2.03
1978 2
1979 1.97
1980 1.98
1981 1.92
1982 1.87
1983 1.86
1984 1.8
1985 1.77
1986 1.73
1987 1.68
1988 1.66
1989 1.55
1990 1.49
1991 1.46
1992 1.43
1993 1.45
1994 1.42
1995 1.41
1996 1.39
1997 1.38
1998 1.36
1999 1.33
2000 1.29
2001 1.27
2002 1.26
2003 1.24
2004 1.19
2005 1.17
2006 1.13
2007 1.09
2008 1.09
2009 1.05
2010 1.04
2011 1.03
2012 1.02
2013 1.04
2014 1.04
2015 1.06
2016 1.06
2017 1.08
2018 1.1

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