Table.

Number of Deaths for Leading Causes of Death, US, 2015-2020^a

	No. of deaths by year
Cause of death	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Total deaths	2 712 630	2 744 248	2 813 503	2 839 205	2 854 838	3 358 814
Heart disease	633 842	635 260	647 457	655 381	659 041	690 882
Cancer	595 930	598 038	599 108	599 274	599 601	598 932
COVID-19b						345 323
Unintentional injuries	146 571	161 374	169 936	167 127	173 040	192 176
Stroke	140 323	142 142	146 383	147 810	150 005	159 050
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	155 041	154 596	160 201	159 486	156 979	151 637
Alzheimer disease	110 561	116 103	121 404	122 019	121 499	133 382
Diabetes	79 535	80 058	83 564	84 946	87 647	101 106
Influenza and pneumonia	57 062	51 537	55 672	59 120	49 783	53 495
Kidney disease	49 959	50 046	50 633	51 386	51 565	52 260
Suicide	44 193	44 965	47 173	48 344	47 511	44 834

^aLeading causes are classified according to underlying cause and presented according to the number of deaths among US residents. For more information, see the article by Heron.⁴ Source: National Center for Health Statistics. National Vital Statistics System: mortality statistics (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm). Data for 2015-2019 are final; data for 2020 are provisional.

^bDeaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19, coded to International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision code U07.1 as the underlying cause of death.