In 2020, the leading causes of death for children aged one to four years in the United States were unintentional injuries and congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, around 33 percent of all deaths among these children were caused by unintentional injuries.
Differences in causes of death among children by age
Just as unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children aged one to four, it is also the leading cause of death for the age groups five to nine and 10 to 14. However, congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities account for fewer deaths as children become older, while the share of deaths caused by cancer is higher among those aged five to nine and 10 to 14. In fact, cancer is the second leading cause of death among five to nine-year-olds, accounting for around 17 percent of all deaths. Sadly, the second leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 is intentional self-harm, with 17 percent of all deaths among those in this age group caused by suicide.
Leading causes of death in the United States
The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and malignant neoplasms. Together these two diseases accounted for around 38 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2021. That year, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death, with about 12 percent of all deaths caused by COVID-19. In 2021, the lifetime odds that the average person in the United States would die from heart disease was one in six, while the odds for cancer were one in seven and for COVID-19 one in 10.
