Data Viz

The leading cause at each age

Move through age groups and watch the map split into different colours. Select a country or cause, then compare share with mortality rate.

  1. Colour shows the leading cause in each country and age group; area does not show deaths.
  2. Nine major causes have named colours. Four roll-up colours cover communicable, maternal and nutritional causes; noncommunicable causes; injuries; and pandemic-related outcomes.
  3. Figures are estimates. Countries without usable death registration are included and labelled by quality class.
Age
Sex
Year
Metric

Share means the percentage of deaths at that age. Per 100,000 is the mortality rate against the population at that age. The denominators differ.

How far each leading cause spreads

Countries where it leads/ 184 countriesDeaths in those countries/ 2,050,488 deaths
Too few deaths to rank (under 20 a year)1 countries
Not covered65 countries

Leading cause by country

2019・15-29・Both sexes
1×

The “How far each leading cause spreads” ranking is the legend for the nine major causes.

Other communicable, maternal, neonatal (multiple causes share this colour)Other noncommunicable diseases (multiple causes share this colour)Other injuries (multiple causes share this colour)The top two are close (under 1 point or 5 deaths apart): 24 countriesToo few deaths to rank (under 20 a year): 1 countriesNot covered

Colour shows each country’s leading cause. Area does not represent deaths.

10 leading causes / largest: Road injury, 64 countries (34.8%) / close races 24 countries / unranked 1 countries / not covered 65 countries ／ Median share of the leading cause 21.6%

World

2019・15-29・Both sexes ／ estimate

Top three causes

First
Deaths271,327 deaths
Share (%)13.2%
Per 100,00014.8
Second
Deaths196,558 deaths
Share (%)9.6%
Per 100,00010.7
Third
Deaths173,875 deaths
Share (%)8.5%
Per 100,0009.5

Age ladder

World・2019 ／ Share of deaths

15-29 total: 2,050,504 deaths

  • 5,383,082
  • 867,489
  • 2,050,504
  • 5,279,169
  • 5,776,551
  • 9,414,111
  • 28,027,761

Six-point trend

World・2019・15-29・Both sexes ／ y: Share of deaths

Top three causes plus the selected cause. Press a label to select that cause.

0%5%10%15%200020102015201920202021

Source and data notes

Source: WHO Global Health Estimates 2021 (June 2024). Retrieved: 2026-08-26.

The generated JSON is provided under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. No WHO logo is used and no WHO endorsement is implied.

Quality class describes death-registration quality (1 = High-quality registration / 2 = Medium-quality registration / 3 = Low-quality registration / 4 = No death registration (modelled)). Counts: 1=59 countries, 2=28 countries, 3=24 countries, 4=74 countries. Class-4 countries account for 61% of world deaths; detailed rankings should not be over-interpreted.

65 ISO codes are not covered (including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, Greenland, and Western Sahara). The dataset contains 185 WHO member states and areas and excludes some populations under 90,000 in 2021.

The tables contain point estimates without uncertainty intervals. This chart shows attributed causes of death, not their social causes.

COVID-19 and “Other COVID-19 pandemic-related outcomes” are separate categories. World values sum the 185 countries.

The six years covered are 2000, 2010, 2015, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

The default year is 2019, the latest baseline before COVID-19; 2020 and 2021 are also available.

Global Health Estimates 2021: Deaths by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-2021. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO