Mortality Statistics

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

NCHS is responding to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with new resources to help monitor and report deaths. Please visit our COVID-19 Death Data and Reporting Guidance page to stay up to date on the latest information.

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Death Data and Reporting Guidance

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The National Vital Statistics System analyzes ~2.8 million records each year to produce timely and accurate information on death and its causes in the United States.

National-level mortality data help track the characteristics of those who have died, monitor and make decisions about public health challenges, determine life expectancy, and compare death trends with other countries. Learn more

Age-adjusted death rate for the 10 leading causes of death in 2021: United States, 2020 and 2021

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^{1 Statistically significant increase from 2020 to 2021 (p < 0.05).}
^{2 Statistically significant decrease from 2020 to 2021 (p < 0.05).}
^{NOTES: A total of 3,464,231 resident deaths were registered in the United States in 2021. The 10 leading causes of death accounted for 74.5% of all U.S. deaths in 2021. Causes of death are ranked according to number of deaths. Rankings for 2020 data are not shown. Data table for Figure 4 includes the number of deaths for leading causes and the percentage of total deaths. Access data table for Figure 4.}
^{SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality.}

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