For the first 39 years of life, accidents pose the greatest risk of death for Americans. After that, the No. 1 threat becomes cancer, followed closely by heart disease. You are most likely to be a homicide victim between the ages of 10 and 29, though the chances that the cause of your death will be a homicide are greater at age 9 than they are at age 39.
Causes of death in U.S. in 1999, ranked by age group
%% ACCIDENTS
AGE RANKING
0-9 1
10-19 1
20-29 1
30-39 1
40-49 3
50-59 3
60-69 6
70-79 7
80+ 8
CANCER
AGE RANKING
0-9 2
10-19 4
20-29 4
30-39 2
40-49 1
50-59 1
60-69 1
70-79 2
80+ 2
HOMICIDE
AGE RANKING
0-9 3
10-19 2
20-29 2
30-39 6
40-49 9
50-59 NA
60-69 NA
70-79 NA
80+ NA
HEART DISEASE
AGE RANKING
0-9 5
10-19 5
20-29 5
30-39 3
40-49 2
50-59 2
60-69 2
70-79 1
80+ 1
SUICIDE
AGE RANKING
0-9 NA
10-19 3
20-29 3
30-39 4
40-49 4
50-59 8
60-69 NA
70-79 NA
80+ NA
STROKE
AGE RANKING
0-9 NA
10-19 9
20-29 8
30-39 8
40-49 7
50-59 7
60-69 4
70-79 4
80+ 3
HIV/AIDS
AGE RANKING
0-9 NA
10-19 NA
20-29 6
30-39 5
40-49 5
50-59 9
60-69 NA
70-79 NA
80+ NA
RESPIRATORY DISEASE
AGE RANKING
0-9 10
10-19 7
20-29 10
30-39 NA
40-49 10
50-59 6
60-69 3
70-79 3
80+ 4
%% Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Joe Knowles and Max Rust/Chicago Tribune
