---
title: 'Top Causes of Death in 2024: CDC''s New Report Breakdown'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=RP9e_MrPapQ'
video_id: 'RP9e_MrPapQ'
date: 2026-08-09
duration_sec: 676
channel: 'High Intensity Health'
---

# Top Causes of Death in 2024: CDC's New Report Breakdown

> Source: [Top Causes of Death in 2024: CDC's New Report Breakdown](https://youtube.com/watch?v=RP9e_MrPapQ)

## Summary

The video provides a detailed analysis of the CDC's provisional mortality report for 2024, highlighting key trends in leading causes of death in the US. It breaks down statistics on heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries, and touches on demographic shifts. The presenter also offers commentary on public health implications and lifestyle recommendations.

### Key Points

- **Overall mortality data** [00:27] — There were 3 million deaths in the US in 2024, with an age-adjusted rate of 722 per 100,000 people—a 3.8% decrease from 2023.
- **Heart disease leading cause** [01:01] — Heart disease remains the leading cause of death, claiming 683,000 lives in 2024, with numbers slightly increasing from 2023.
- **Cancer and unintentional injuries** [01:15] — Cancer is the second leading cause, with 619,000 deaths in 2024, up from 613,000 in 2023. Unintentional injuries, including overdoses and car crashes, are the third leading cause, particularly affecting those under 40.
- **Demographic shifts in mortality** [06:35] — Deaths among younger age groups (25-44) decreased in 2024, while deaths among those 65-84 increased compared to 2023, marking a demographic shift.
- **COVID-19 drops off top 10** [08:43] — COVID-19 was the 10th leading cause of death in 2023 but dropped off the top 10 list in 2024.
- **Lifestyle recommendations** [09:50] — The presenter recommends lifestyle changes—walking, minimizing nighttime light exposure, and reducing ultra-processed foods—to mitigate risks of heart disease and cancer.

## Transcript

Let's review the leading causes of death during the year 2024. This is our fifth year covering the CDC's Vital Statistics Rapid Release Report. It was usually reported during their what's known as the Mobility Mortality Weekly Report.
It used to come out every March, but now it's delayed to September. So here we go. Mortality in the U.S. Provisional data from 2024. Okay. In the year 2024, there were 3 million deaths in the U.S.
The age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 U.S. population was 844 for males and 613 for females. The overall rate was 722 per 100,000 people, which was 3.8% lower than 2023.
Let's talk about the leading causes of mortality. Now, if you're new to this channel, just know that we've done this report every year since 2020. So we've covered this five years in a row, and it should be no surprise to you that heart disease is the number one and remains the leading cause of mortality here in the U.S.,
claiming the lives of 683,000 individuals during the year 2024. Now, also, you shouldn't be surprised if cancer is the second leading cause of mortality here in the U.S. It remains to be the case.
In fact, it seems that cancer numbers are on the rise. Unintentional injury seems to be on the rise as well. This is the third leading cause of death, and we're going to go through the statistics momentarily. But unintentional injury, we're talking about gun violence, we're talking about drug overdoses, car crashes, things like that.
This tends to be the leading cause of death for people under the age of 40. And this hasn't really been in the top three up until after 2021. There was some reasons, I think, you know, lockdowns and things like that were problematic for unintentional injuries,
depression, suicide, drug overdoses, and beyond. So I really want to get into the heart disease data because I think this is incredibly fascinating. I think the average person doesn't recognize that heart disease is the leading cause of mortality.
And so many people are trying to lower their cholesterol with cholesterol-lowering foods and eating heart-healthy whole grains endorsed by the American Heart Association and so forth. Well, you know, we've been digging this cardiovascular disease prevention drum
from our mainstream establishments, you know, for almost 60 years now. And it seems that what we're doing is not really working, obviously, because, you know, the death rates are still, you know, quite high for heart disease.
And we're seeing younger and younger people. I can share with you this flash on the screen. Younger people are having strokes and heart attacks. and are dying from heart disease in disproportionate numbers. And I think everyone kind of wondering why And we also seeing this early onset cancer And I think this is really interesting Now sadly in this data which we going to dive into momentarily
they don't get into the age-related statistics in terms of, you know, what age groups are dying from cancer. You actually have to pull the VOD data from the CDC on that.
But we are seeing more and more young people die from cancer. And I think a lot of us are asking, well, why? Why are young people now dying from cancer? I have my theories and speculations, which I will share with you momentarily.
But folks, I want to just pause and say thank you. I really appreciate you all being here. Hopefully you're enjoying this content. And this video is brought to you by our friends over at Nodzunder.com, the makers of the highest quality certified organic cotton boxers and briefs for health-oriented men.
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So definitely check them out in the link below. So getting back to the data, this I think is just really important for us to continue to share with people. We see people drinking soda pop. They're on their phones at night.
They're not exercising. They're not getting their 12,000 steps per day. And I don't think people realize just how harmful heart disease and cancer in terms of the loss of quality-adjusted life years.
We talking about 1 million people dying every single year and I want to parse out some of this data So let look at scroll down here to table this is table one and look at the differences between the number of deaths between 2023 and 2024.
So as I mentioned, well over 3 million people died here in the U.S. It's sad children under the age of one, about almost 20,000, you know, basically infants and toddlers died.
here in the US and that's really unfortunate. It seems that deaths among younger children have gone down when comparing 23 to 24. They were up during 2021 and 2022 for some mysterious reason. As well
as deaths for people under the age of 44 were also significantly increased during the year 2021 and 2022. That trend seems to be going down. No one knows why. I don't know. Do you know why? Let me
me know in the comment section. I would love to know your thoughts. This is the first year where elderly people, we're talking people between the ages of 65 up to 84, there were more deaths in
that category compared to younger people. So during 2021-2022, there were more younger people that died compared to elderly. That pendulum has seemed to pivot a little bit. More young people
between the ages of 25 and 34. There was about 10,000 less people, young people that died, thankfully. 35 to 44 is about 8,000 less people died during the year 2024.
And same with 45 to 54. But then that trend seemed to buck a little bit for those between 65 and 84, all the way up to 85 and above. So it seems that more people over the age of 65 died
in 2024 versus just 2023. So that's a little bit interesting. And there was no gender differences there as well. But what I would love to see, and I couldn't find this data,
is the age brackets about who died from what condition. This is what we really need to CDC. It would be nice to know because we're hearing so many reports of early-onset cancer, early-onset cardiovascular disease,
early-onset menopause and things of the sort. So we would like to know that. So I would love for the CDC to be able to offer that. But let's get to the discussion. So the investigators say the leading cause of death in 2024 was heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injury.
The number of deaths from heart disease increased in 2024 compared with 2023. We're talking about 3,000. So it wasn't a significant bump, but it seems that deaths from heart disease are increased. And deaths from cancer in 2024 increased from 2023.
from 619 in 2024 to just 613 in 2023 Now what interesting is COVID I still see people wearing masks all the time here in Seattle My friends I mean people on their bikes
people in their cars, people walking their dog are still wearing a facial covering. But COVID-19 was only the 10th leading cause of death in 2023 and dropped off the list of top 10 leading causes of death in 2024. So again, if you're wearing your facial covering in your car
or walking your dog, but you're drinking soda pop and buying McMuffins and so forth at McDonald's, you're literally robbing Peter the PayPal. You're not focusing on the right things because, you know, COVID is literally off the top leading cause of mortality risk.
So I think that's interesting for us to know about. So they say this report provides an overview of provisional mortality in the U.S. during the year 2024. Provisional death estimates can give researchers and policymakers an early signal about shifts in mortality trends and provide actionable information sooner than final mortality data.
These data can inform public health policies and interventions aimed at reducing mortality. So, yeah, we're seeing higher deaths from heart disease as well as higher deaths from cancer. We should be looking at this more, right?
Remember all these mandates about slowing the spread and so forth about five years ago? well obviously we're not doing a good job about slowing the spread of heart disease and cancer so I think we could definitely do a better job at that and that's why the onus is on you to help
share these videos with friends and family especially the actionable tips we just recently reviewed a study from the journal of the American Medical Association finding right exposure increases risk of having a heart attack between 47 and 54 percent for example light exposure at
night, having high light exposure at night compared to low night exposure over a 9.5-year study period was linked with almost a 30% increased risk of coronary artery disease
prevalence. So we know that these small little things that we do have a profound impact on the physiology of our body. So friends, exercise, get your 10,000 to 12,000 steps per day, minimize your light exposure
at night, try to eat more mindfully during daylight hours and not have a bowl of meals during the darkness of the night. Obviously, minimize consumption of ultra-processed foods, prioritize protein. These are all things that are actionable.
We can all do this depending upon our income. We don't need all this expensive equipment and all these expensive supplements to walk and to minimize light exposure at night and to get good quality sleep and so forth. So, I appreciate you tuning all the way to the very end.
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