Death in the Teens

Death rates: Fortunately, death occurs rarely in teens, at a rate of about 1 in 5,000 each year.

Top Ten Causes of Death: For ages 10-14 years, the top ten causes of death in USA 1999 were:

• accidents (39.6% of deaths),
• cancer (12.2%),
• homicide (6.0%),
• suicide (5.9%),
• congenital defects including chromosome conditions (5.4%),
• heart disease (3.9%),
• chronic lower respiratory disease (2.2%),
• influenza and pneumonia (1.1%),
• cerebrovascular diseases including stroke (0.9%),
• non-malignant cancers (0.9%), and
• other causes (21.9%) [CDC NVSR 2001].

For ages 15-19 years, the top ten causes of death in USA 1999 were:

• accidents (48.5% of deaths),
• homicide (15.2%),
• suicide (11.7%),
• cancer (5.4%),
• heart diseases (3.4%),
• congenital conditions including chromosome conditions (1.6%),
• chronic lower respiratory diseases (0.8%),
• influenza and pneumonia (0.5%),
• cerebrovascular diseases including stroke (0.5%),
• non-malignant cancers (0.4%), and
• other causes (12.0%) [CDC NVSR 2001].