The information below is from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Accidents (unintentional injuries) are, by far, the leading cause of death among children and teens.
Key findings
In 2015–17, the leading causes of child (aged 1–14) deaths were injuries, cancer and diseases of the nervous system.
Disease is the leading cause of death in middle childhood.
In the United States: More children ages 1–4 die from drowning than any other cause of death. For children ages 5–14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes.
What Is The Primary Cause Of Teenage Deaths? According to the CDC, the primary cause of teenage deaths is injuries sustained from accidents. Accidents are responsible for almost one-half of all adolescent deaths.
Injuries (including road traffic injuries, drowning, burns, and falls) are leading causes of death and lifelong disability among older children and young adolescents. Infectious diseases have declined since 2000 for this age group.
Globally, infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, along with pre-term birth, birth asphyxia and trauma, and congenital anomalies remain the leading causes of death for children under five.
Preterm birth and low birth weight. Sudden infant death syndrome. Injuries (e.g., suffocation). Maternal pregnancy complications.
Acute respiratory infections, notably pneumonia, and diarrhoeal diseases are the first and second leading causes of death among young children, respectively.
In 2021, 5.0 million children under 5 years of age died. Globally, infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, remain a leading cause of under-five deaths, along with preterm birth and intrapartum-related complications.
Summary. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. The second biggest cause are cancers.
However, causes of death may also be classified in terms of preventable risk factors—such as smoking, unhealthy diet, sexual behavior, and reckless driving—which contribute to a number of different diseases.
The world average age of death is a few years lower at 68.9 years for men and 73.9 years for women. Within the European Union, these are 77.7 and 83.3 years respectively. Birth rate and death rate are given in births/deaths per 1,000 inhabitants within one year. The table shows the official data from the year 2021.
Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities continued to be the leading cause of death in 2021 among infants and children aged 28 days to 15 years, followed by neoplasms, also known as an abnormal growth of tissue (see Table 8 of the accompanying dataset).
Preterm birth, intrapartum-related complications (birth asphyxia or inability to breathe at birth), infections and birth defects are the leading causes of most neonatal deaths.
Malnourished children, particularly those with severe acute malnutrition, have a higher risk of death from common childhood illness such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria. Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under 5 years of age.
SIDS is the leading cause of death among infants 1 month to 1 year old, and remains unpredictable despite years of research. Even so, the risk of SIDS can be greatly reduced. Most important: Babies younger than 1 year old should be placed on their backs to sleep — never on their stomachs or on their sides.
Accidents and falls are the most common cause of severe bodily injury and death in middle and late childhood.
More than 1.25 million people die each year from road traffic accidents, 90 percent of which occur in low- or middle-income countries. According to WHO, causes of road traffic accidents include unsafe vehicles, inadequate law enforcement, drivers under the influence and speeding.
Unintentional injuries (accidents) are the leading cause of death after age 1 year through adolescence.
What are the leading causes of death? While preterm birth, birth trauma and infectious diseases cause the most deaths in children under 5 years, injuries (including road traffic injuries and drowning) rank among the top causes of death and lifelong disability among older children and young adolescents aged 5–14 years.
Even if children don't fully understand death, they do know that something important and lasting has happened. You may notice that your toddler becomes more clingy or demanding, or has more intense separation anxiety. Children may also show changes in sleeping or toileting patterns.
More deaths could be prevented, especially in CIS countries, through intervention and prevention efforts focusing on the leading causes of death, which are road injuries, drowning, and lower respiratory infections.