National Vital Statistics System

Mortality Statistics

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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.

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The National Vital Statistics System captures information about death from all causes from every county in the United States – about 2.8 million deaths each year – to produce timely and accurate mortality data.

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 2022: United States, 2021 and 2022

Image of leading causes of death for 2020 and 2021

1 Statistically significant decrease from 2021 to 2022 (p < 0.05).
2 Statistically significant increase from 2021 to 2022 (p < 0.05).
NOTES: A total of 3,279,857 resident deaths were registered in the United States in 2022. The 10 leading causes of death accounted for 72.3% of all U.S. deaths in 2022. Causes of death are ranked according to number of deaths. Rankings for 2021 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 data file.

What's New
  1. Fetal Mortality in the United States: Final 2022–2023 and 2023–Provisional 2024 (12/3/2025)
  2. Changes in Suicide Rates in the United States From 2022 to 2023 (9/24/2025)
  3. Timeliness of Death Certificate Data by Jurisdiction and Selected Causes of Death: United States and Puerto Rico, 2023 (9/23/2025)
  4. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2023 (9/16/2025)
  5. Mortality in the United States: Provisional Data, 2024 (9/10/2025)
  6. Trends in Births and Deaths: United States, 2010–2023 (8/27/2025)
  7. Deaths: Final Data for 2022 (6/10/2025)
  8. Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2003–2023 (12/19/2024)
  9. Mortality in the United States, 2023 (12/19/2024)
  10. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2022 [PDF – 2,144 KB] (12/9/2024)
  11. Declines in Triplet and Higher-order Multiple Births in the United States, 1998–2023 (10/31/2024)
  12. Fetal Mortality in the United States: Final 2021–2022 and 2022–Provisional 2023 [PDF – 618 KB] (10/15/2024)
  13. Deaths: Final Data for 2021 [PDF – 3,250 KB] (10/4/2024)
  14. Suicide Mortality in the United States, 2002–2022 (9/26/2024)
  15. U.S. State Life Tables, 2021 [PDF – 1 MB] (8/21/2024)
  16. Stroke Death Rates Among Adults Ages 45–64 by Region and Race and Hispanic Origin: United States, 2002–2022 (8/8/2024)
  17. Infant Mortality in the United States, 2022: Data From the Period Linked Birth/Infant Death File [PDF – 1,220 KB] (7/25/2024)
  18. 2016-2020 Matched Multiple Birth and Fetal Death Data File (5/29/2024)
  19. Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2022 (5/2/2024)
  20. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2021 [PDF – 2, 751KB] (4/8/2024)
  21. Mortality in the United States, 2022 (3/21/2024)
  22. Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2002–2022 (3/21/2024)
  23. Mortality in Adults Age 65 and Older: United States, 2000–2019 [PDF 1,085 KB] (12/15/2023)