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In 2010, a total of 2,468,435 deaths occurred in the United States. The first two leading causes of death, heart disease (597,689 deaths) and cancer (574,743), accounted for nearly 50% of all deaths. In contrast, the other leading causes accounted for much smaller percentages, ranging from 5.6% (138,080 deaths) for the third leading cause of death, chronic lower respiratory disease, to 1.6% (38,364) for suicide, the 10th leading cause of death. All other causes combined accounted for 25% of the deaths.

Source: Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD. Deaths: final data for 2010. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf.

Reported by: Jiaquan Xu, MD, jax4@cdc.gov, 301-458-4086.

Alternate Text: The figure above shows the number of deaths from 10 leading causes in the United States during 2010, according to the National Vital Statistics System. In 2010, a total of 2,468,435 deaths occurred in the United States. The first two leading causes of death, heart diseases (597,689 deaths) and cancer (574,743), accounted for nearly 50% of all deaths. In contrast, the other leading causes accounted for much smaller percentages, ranging from 5.6% (138,080 deaths) for the third leading cause of death, chronic lower respiratory disease, to suicide which, ranked 10th, with 1.6% (38,364) of all deaths. All other causes combined accounted for 25% of the deaths.