Countries with highest death rates 2020

As of 2020, the countries with the highest death rates worldwide are Bulgaria, Serbia, and Ukraine. In these countries there were 16 to 18 deaths per 1,000 people. The country with the lowest death rate is Qatar, where there is just one death per 1,000 people.

Leading causes of death

The leading causes of death worldwide are by far ischaemic heart disease and stroke, accounting for a combined 27 percent of all deaths in 2019. In that year, there were 8.89 million deaths worldwide from ischaemic heart disease and 6.19 million from stroke. Interestingly, a worldwide survey from that year found that people greatly underestimate the proportion of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, but overestimate the proportion of deaths caused by suicide, interpersonal violence, and substance use disorders.

Death in the United States

In 2020, there were around 3.36 million deaths in the United States. The leading causes of death in the United States are currently heart disease and cancer, accounting for a combined 38 percent of all deaths in 2020. Lung and bronchus cancer is the deadliest form of cancer worldwide as well as in the United States. In the U.S. this form of cancer is predicted to cause around 68,820 deaths among men alone in the year 2022. Prostate cancer is the second deadliest cancer for men in the U.S. while breast cancer is the second deadliest for women. In 2020, the third leading cause of death in the United States was COVID-19. Deaths due to COVID-19 resulted in a significant rise in the total number of deaths in the U.S. in 2020 compared to 2019.