Preventable Injuries: The Third Leading Cause of Death
After two consecutive years with preventable injuries ranked fourth behind COVID-19, in 2022 preventable deaths are once again the third leading cause of death in the United States. The top three leading causes of death in the United States are now:
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Preventable Injury
Preventable injuries continue to be the leading cause of death during the prime of life, from early childhood when kids are developing and discovering who they want to become through middle age, when adults are in the prime of their lives, enjoying career success as well as raising families and preparing for older adulthood.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Examining and understanding the data presented here will help us eliminate preventable deaths in our lifetime. To explore how deaths from preventable injuries are ranked by age group and sex, check out the Data Details tab.
Visit the Top 10 Preventable Injuries page to explore the leading causes of preventable injury-related death driving this increase.
- Chart
- Data Table
Source: National Safety Council analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System, Mortality 2018-2022 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2024. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 2018-2022, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10-expanded.html