Suicide & Age: Most Common Causes of Death

Statista: Suicide Among the Most Common Causes of Death 
 

by Katharina Buchholz,

 Sep 9, 2024

Homicide as well as suicide are common causes of death for young age groups in the United States, second only to accidents for those between the ages of 10 and 34. After that age, cancer, heart disease and more recently Covid-19 become bigger killers. Even for children aged 5-9, homicide is a big danger and was the third most common cause of death for the age group in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Homicide rates in children rose in the United States during the pandemic, increasing by as much as 50 percent for Black children and those between the ages of 16 and 17 just between 2018 and 2020. They also shot up for adults in 2020 and 2021.

Of approximately 48,000 suicides recorded by the CDC in the U.S. in 2021, between 6,500 and 8,900 deaths occurred per ten-year age cohort above the age of 15. Despite being a relatively large killer of children who are 10 to 14 years old, only around 600 suicides occurred in this age group in 2021. The situation is similar for homicides, where around 200-300 death in the age groups 5-9 and 10-14 constitute rank 3/4 of the most common causes of death. Between 6,600 and 7,600 homicide deaths occurred for those 15 to 24 years old and those 25 to 34 years old in 2021. For older age groups, the number decreases gradually.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Suicide: National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health has the same data as above. The horizontal and vertical axes are reversed.  The twelve leading causes of death are given for all age groups, along with the actual numbers for 2021. Only the Suicide areas are highlighted. 

Leading Cause of Death in the United States for Select Age Groups (2021) Data Courtesy of CDC
Rank	5-9	10-14	15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	All Ages
1	Unintentional Injury 827	Unintentional Injury 915	Unintentional Injury 15,792	Unintentional Injury 34,452	Unintentional Injury 36,444	COVID-19 36,881	Malignant Neoplasms 108,023	Heart Disease 695,547
2	Malignant Neoplasms 347	Suicide 598	Homicide 6,635	Suicide 8,862	COVID-19 16,006	Heart Disease 34,535	Heart Disease 89,342	Malignant Neoplasms 605,213
3	Homicide 188	Malignant Neoplasms 449	Suicide 6,528	Homicide 7,571	Heart Disease 12,754	Malignant Neoplasms 33,567	COVID-19 73,725	COVID-19 416,893
4	Congenital Anomalies 171	Homicide 298	COVID-19 1,401	COVID-19 6,133	Malignant Neoplasms 11,194	Unintentional Injury 31,407	Unintentional Injury 33,471	Unintentional Injury 224,935
5	Heart Disease 66	Congenital Anomalies 179	Malignant Neoplasms 1,323	Heart Disease 4,155	Suicide 7,862	Liver Disease 10,501	Diabetes Mellitus 18,603	Cerebro- vascular 162,890
6	COVID-19 63	Heart Disease 132	Heart Disease 944	Malignant Neoplasms 3,615	Liver Disease 5,833	Diabetes Mellitus 7,597	Liver Disease 17,664	CLRD 142,342
7	CLRD 54	COVID-19 79	Congenital Anomalies 419	Liver Disease 1,833	Homicide 4,863	Suicide 7,401	CLRD 17,620	Alzheimer's Disease 119,399
8	Cerebro-vascular 35	Cerebro-vascular 53	Diabetes Mellitus 345	Diabetes Mellitus 1,285	Diabetes Mellitus 2,961	Cerebro- vascular 5,755	Cerebro- vascular 14,634	Diabetes Mellitus 103,294
9	Septicemia 28	CLRD 45	Complicated Pregnancy 214	Complicated Pregnancy 797	Cerebro- vascular 2,189	CLRD 3,174	Suicide 7,267	Liver Disease 56,585
10	Influenza & Pneumonia 27	Diabetes Mellitus 39	Cerebro- vascular 190	Cerebro- vascular 624	Septicemia 1,108	Homicide 2,768	Septicemia 6,477	Nephritis 54,358
11	Benign Neoplasms 24	Benign Neoplasms 30	CLRD 158	HIV 510	Nephritis 972	Nephritis 2,516	Nephritis 6,374	Suicide 48,183
12	Perinatal Period 21	Influenza & Pneumonia 22	Influenza & Pneumonia 128	Congenital Anomalies 459	Influenza & Pneumonia 842	Septicemia 2,426	Hypertension 5,187	Hypertension 42,816

Some Odds of Dying

What the CDC calls "Unintentional Accidents" is call Preventable Causes of Death by the National Safety Council. Most of these causes of death are:

45%:poisoning, now mainly drug overdose mostly from opioids

21%: falls

20%: car accidents

Lifetime odds of death for selected causes, United States, 2022
Cause of Death	Odds of Dying
Heart disease	1 in 6
Cancer	1 in 7
All preventable causes of death	1 in 19
COVID-19	1 in 23
Chronic lower respiratory disease	1 in 29
Opioid overdose (accidental)	1 in 55
Suicide	1 in 87
Guns (all intents)	1 in 89
Suicide with gun	1 in 159
Gun assault	1 in 219
Accidental gun discharge	1 in 9,288
Fall	1 in 92
Motor-vehicle crash	1 in 93
Pedestrian incident	1 in 468
Motorcyclist	1 in 722
Drowning	1 in 1,032
Fire or smoke	1 in 1,236
Choking on food	1 in 2,482
Bicyclist	1 in 3,162
Sunstroke	1 in 4,402