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. 2021 Apr 9;70(14):519–522. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7014e1

FIGURE 2.

This figure is a bar chart showing the top 10 leading underlying causes of death in the United States during 2020, which were as follows: 1) heart disease, 2) cancer, 3) COVID-19, 4) unintentional injury, 5) stroke, 6) chronic lower respiratory disease, 7) Alzheimer disease, 8) diabetes, 9) influenza and pneumonia, and 10) kidney disease.

Provisional* number of leading underlying causes of death† — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2020

* National Vital Statistics System provisional data are incomplete. Data from December are less complete due to reporting lags. Deaths that occurred in the United States among residents of U.S. territories and foreign countries were excluded.

† Deaths for which COVID-19 was a contributing, but not the underlying, cause of death are not included in this figure.