Ready-made assignment · Health
Health class chart assignment
Six charts from the CDC and the World Bank on how long people live, what they die of and what health care costs, for a lesson on public health.
- How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?
- What do Americans die of most often?
- How does heart disease compare with cancer as a cause of death in the US?
- How many Americans die of drug overdoses each year?
- How has the US teen birth rate changed since 1940?
- How much does each country spend on health care per person?
Share it with your class
Post this link in Google Classroom, Canvas or Moodle. Students see every chart below with its questions, source and date; they don't need an account.
Chart 1 of 6 · Health
How long do Americans live, and how has that changed since 1900?
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A baby born in the US in 2018 could expect to live 78.7 years, up from 47.3 in 1900. The sharpest drop was in 1918, to 39.1 years, during the influenza pandemic. This CDC dataset stops at 2018; later NCHS reports put life expectancy at 78.4 years in 2023 and 79.0 in 2024, after a fall during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How to read this chart
Each point is how long a baby born in that year could expect to live, if death rates stayed as they were that year. It is an average, so it is pulled down a lot when many babies and young people die. Hover or tap a point to read its year and value.
Questions to discuss
- Find the sharpest drop on the chart. What happened in the world that year?
- Life expectancy in 1900 was under 50. Does that mean most adults died in their 40s? What else could lower the average?
- What changes in medicine, food or public health could explain the long rise?
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Death rates and life expectancy at birth (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2018
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 6 · Health
What do Americans die of most often?
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In the 12 months through June 2025, heart disease (204 deaths per 100,000 people) and cancer (183) were the leading causes of death in the US, and unintentional injuries came third at 56. Unintentional injuries include accidental overdoses, falls and traffic crashes. The numbers are provisional and may change a little as records are completed.
Questions to discuss
- What are the two leading causes of death in the U.S.?
- Which of these causes can healthy habits help prevent, and which are harder to prevent?
- These are rates per 100,000 people, not counts. Why are rates better for comparing causes or years?
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Quarterly provisional estimates of mortality (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Jun 30, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 6 · Health
How does heart disease compare with cancer as a cause of death in the US?
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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 had the higher rate in every year from 1900 to 2018. The ratio compares age-adjusted death rates from one CDC dataset, which stops at 2018.
Questions to discuss
- In 1950, how many heart disease deaths were there for every cancer death? What about in the newest year?
- The heart disease death rate fell much faster than the cancer rate. What changes in medicine or habits could explain that?
- What does it mean when the line crosses 1?
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Age-adjusted death rates for selected major causes of death (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2018
Open the chart and its numbersChart 4 of 6 · Health
How many Americans die of drug overdoses each year?
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65,351 people died of drug overdoses in the US in the 12 months ending May 2026, about 41% fewer than at the peak of about 111,500 in the 12 months ending June 2023. The counts are provisional: the latest months are slightly undercounted while some causes of death are still being investigated. CDC's provisional counts start with the 12 months ending January 2015.
Questions to discuss
- When were overdose deaths highest, and what has happened since?
- Each point counts the 12 months before it. Why might a 12-month total be steadier than a single month?
- The newest numbers are provisional. Why might they change after they're first reported?
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Provisional drug overdose death counts (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of May 31, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 5 of 6 · Health
How has the US teen birth rate changed since 1940?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
There were 12.6 births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19 in 2024. The rate has fallen about 80% since 1991 (61.8) and about 87% since its 1957 peak (96.3).
Questions to discuss
- When was the teen birth rate highest, and how has it changed since 1991?
- The chart counts births per 1,000 females aged 15 to 19. Why use a rate instead of the number of births?
- What changes in schools, health care or society could help explain the long fall?
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, Birth rates for females by age group and Health, United States (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024
Open the chart and its numbersChart 6 of 6 · World
How much does each country spend on health care per person?
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In 2023, the United States spent $13,473 per person on health care, about 10 times the world figure of $1,317. Germany spent $6,395, Japan $3,638, China $763 and India $85; Madagascar spent the least, $17. Search 191 countries and territories. Spending counts what governments, insurers and households paid for health care, but not new hospitals or equipment, in US dollars at each year's exchange rates, not adjusted for differences in prices.
How to read this chart
Each bar is what a country spent on health care in a year, by governments, insurers and households together, divided by its population and turned into U.S. dollars. The dashed line is the world. The figures aren't adjusted for prices, so a dollar buys more care in some countries than others.
Questions to discuss
- About how many times the world figure does the United States spend per person?
- Does spending more on health care per person always mean people live longer? What other chart on Chartly could help you check?
- Doctors and nurses are paid less in some countries. How would that change what these dollar figures can tell you?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Current health expenditure per capita (current US$) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2023
Open the chart and its numbersA chart for class, every Monday
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