Mortality Trends in the United States, 1900–2018

National Center for Health Statistics

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These graphics of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlight the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex; childhood death rates by age group; and age-adjusted death rates for five selected major causes of death.

• Select a dashboard from the left side drop-down menu, then click on “Update Dashboard” to navigate through different graphics. At the lower portion of each chart, an option to select a range of years is available. In addition, the ‘Death Rates and Life Expectancy’ dashboard includes selection boxes for sex and race
• Download a dataset in CSV format choosing from the center drop-down menu.
• Additional file formats are available for download for each dataset at Data.CDC.gov, which can be accessed by selecting the desired dataset from the right side drop-down menu.

Options

Select a dashboard: Death Rates and Life Expectancy Childhood Death Rates Leading Causes of Death

Select a CSV Dataset: Death Rates and Life Expectancy Childhood Death Rates Leading Causes of Death: Age-adjusted Death Rates for Selected Major Causes of Death Leading Causes of Death: Top Five Leading Causes of Death in 1900, 1950, and 2000

Select a dataset from Data.CDC.gov**[?]**: Death Rates and Life Expectancy Childhood Death Rates Leading Causes of Death: Age-adjusted Death Rates for Selected Major Causes of Death Leading Causes of Death: Top Five Leading Causes of Death in 1900, 1950, and 2000

NOTE: Visualization is optimized for a viewing screen of 950 pixels or wider (i.e., PC and tablets in landscape orientation).

Death Rates and Life Expectancy - The following data tables describe the currently displayed dashboard

click the titlebars to expand / collapse Data tables

Notes:

† Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2018 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below).

‡‡ Life expectancy data are only available for all races up to 2018. Life expectancies for black and white populations will be updated when the data is available. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm.

†† Age groups for childhood death rates are based on age at death.

‡‡‡ Revisions to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) over time may result in discontinuities in cause-of-death trends.

Sources:

NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

References:

• National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm.
• National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.
• Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf.
• Xu JQ, Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Arias E. Mortality in the United States, 2018. NCHS Data Brief, no 355. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2020. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm.
• Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf.
• Kochanek KD, Anderson RN, Arias E. Changes in life expectancy at birth, 2010–2018. NCHS Health E-Stat. 2020. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/life-expectancy/life-expectancy-2018.htm.
• National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

Suggested citation:

Bastian B, Tejada Vera B, Arias E, et al. Mortality trends in the United States, 1900–2018. National Center for Health Statistics. 2020.

Designed by Bastian B, Lipphardt A, Keralis JM, Lu L, and Chong Y: National Center for Health Statistics.

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