The Leading Causes of Death for Young People Worldwide
Road crashes, violence, suicide and pregnancy complications: what kills young people aged 10 to 29 around the world, and what is working to prevent it.
Picture a motorbike taxi rank on the edge of a fast-growing city in East Africa, early on a Saturday evening. A dozen riders, most of them under 25, lean against their bikes, waiting for fares. Hardly any of them wear helmets. Across the city, a teenage girl is in labour in a clinic that has no blood bank. On another continent, a 17-year-old boy is sitting alone in his bedroom, scrolling, not answering his phone.
Each of these scenes points to one of the leading causes of death for young people on earth. Youth is the healthiest stage of life, the time when the risk of dying from disease is at its lowest. Yet more than a million young people still die every year, and most of those deaths are not caused by illness at all. You can watch the global death total ticking upward, minute by minute, on our live death counter.
The headline number
The World Health Organization estimates that around 1.5 million adolescents and young adults aged 10 to 24 died in 2021, roughly 4,500 every day. Widen the band to everyone aged 15 to 29 and the figure is closer to 2.2 million a year, the number we track on our 15 to 29 age group page.
| Time period | Deaths aged 10 to 24 (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Per year | 1,500,000 |
| Per month | 125,000 |
| Per week | 29,000 |
| Per day | 4,100 to 4,500 |
| Per hour | 170 to 190 |
| Per minute | about 3 |
That is about 2% to 4% of the roughly 62 million deaths worldwide each year, from a group that makes up nearly a quarter of the world's population. Young people die far less often than anyone else except older children, which is why the causes that do kill them stand out so sharply. The overall age picture is in death rate by age group.
What kills young people
The leading causes of death for 10 to 24 year olds look nothing like the overall global list, which is dominated by heart disease and stroke. Injuries and violence take the top places.
| Rank | Leading cause (ages 10 to 24, global) | Who it hits hardest |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Road traffic injuries | Young men, motorcyclists and pedestrians |
| 2 | Interpersonal violence (homicide) | Young men in Latin America and southern Africa |
| 3 | Suicide and self-harm | Both sexes; highest rates in older teens and young adults |
| 4 | Lower respiratory infections | Younger adolescents in low-income countries |
| 5 | Drowning | Younger teenagers, especially boys |
| 6 | HIV/AIDS | Young women in eastern and southern Africa |
| 7 | Maternal conditions | Girls and young women aged 15 to 24 |
| 8 | Diarrhoeal diseases | Younger adolescents in low-income countries |
Ordering based on WHO Global Health Estimates for adolescents and young adults; exact positions vary by year, age band and source.
Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 5 to 29 worldwide, according to the WHO. That single fact surprises most people. The full picture of road deaths is on our road injuries page and in how many people die in car accidents every day.
Boys and girls face different risks
Young men die at roughly twice the rate of young women, and the gap is almost entirely made up of injuries and violence.
| Leading causes | Young men (15 to 29) | Young women (15 to 29) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Road traffic injuries | Suicide |
| 2 | Interpersonal violence | Maternal conditions |
| 3 | Suicide | Road traffic injuries |
| 4 | Drowning | HIV/AIDS |
| 5 | Tuberculosis | Lower respiratory infections |
Based on WHO estimates; regional patterns differ considerably from the global average.
For young men, the top three are all forms of injury. Risk-taking, alcohol, driving, carrying weapons and dangerous work all play a part, and the pattern is the beginning of a gap that persists across the whole of adult life, as we set out in why men die younger than women.
For young women, the picture includes something young men never face. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth remain one of the leading causes of death for girls aged 15 to 19 globally, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where adolescent pregnancy rates are highest. Young mothers face higher risks of eclampsia, infection and obstructed labour than women in their twenties. We cover maternal deaths in how many women die in childbirth every day, and the wider data on our maternal mortality page.
Suicide: the hardest number
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds worldwide, according to the WHO. In many high-income countries, including the UK and the US, it ranks first or second for this age group, because deaths from infection and maternal causes are so rare.
| Country or region | Where suicide ranks among young people |
|---|---|
| World (ages 15 to 29) | 3rd |
| United States (ages 10 to 34) | 2nd, after unintentional injuries |
| England and Wales (ages 20 to 34) | Leading cause for young men, alongside drug poisoning |
| Europe (ages 15 to 29) | Among the top two in many countries |
Behind every one of these numbers is a person who was in pain, and very often a family who did not know how much. The evidence on prevention is clearer than many people realise: limiting access to means, responsible media reporting, school-based mental health programmes and early support all reduce deaths.
If you are struggling, please talk to someone. In the UK, Samaritans can be reached free on 116 123 at any time. In the US, you can call or text 988. Our suicide page has more information and links to help around the world.
Where young people die
The causes that dominate depend heavily on where a young person lives.
| Region | Dominant causes of youth death |
|---|---|
| Sub-Saharan Africa | Road injuries, HIV/AIDS, maternal conditions, lower respiratory infections, malaria in younger teens |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | Homicide, by a wide margin, then road injuries |
| South Asia | Road injuries, suicide, drowning, tuberculosis |
| Eastern Europe | Road injuries, suicide, alcohol-related injuries |
| Western Europe, North America, Australia | Road injuries, suicide, drug poisoning; in the US, firearms |
Latin America has some of the highest youth homicide rates in the world. In several countries in the region, homicide alone kills more young men than every disease combined. We look at the global picture in how many people are murdered every day.
In sub-Saharan Africa, infections still matter. HIV remains a major killer of young women in the east and south of the continent, where adolescent girls and young women account for a disproportionate share of new infections. The global numbers are on our HIV/AIDS page and the regional picture on our Africa page.
Drowning and the youngest teenagers
Drowning deserves its own mention. It is one of the leading causes of death for children aged 5 to 14 worldwide and remains significant in the early teenage years, particularly for boys in Asia and in rural areas with open water.
| Age group | Approx. share of global drowning deaths | Main settings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | Highest rate of any age | Ponds, wells, buckets and ditches near home |
| 5 to 14 | High | Rivers, lakes, unsupervised swimming |
| 15 to 29 | Moderate | Swimming, boating, floods, alcohol |
Drowning is highly preventable with barriers around water, swimming lessons and supervised childcare. The full story is in how many people drown every day, and the wider picture for this age range is on our 5 to 14 age group page.
How things have changed
There is real progress in this data. Youth death rates have fallen in most parts of the world since 2000, largely because infectious disease deaths have dropped.
| Change since 2000 | Approximate direction |
|---|---|
| Deaths from HIV/AIDS among young people | Down sharply since the mid-2000s peak |
| Deaths from diarrhoea and respiratory infection in adolescents | Down substantially |
| Maternal deaths among young women | Down, though progress has stalled since about 2016 |
| Road deaths among young people | Roughly flat globally, rising in some low-income countries |
| Youth suicide in some high-income countries | Rising in the 2010s, especially among girls |
| Youth homicide | Persistently high in Latin America |
The shift means that injuries and violence now make up a larger share of youth deaths than ever before. That is partly good news, a sign that the illnesses which once killed so many young people are being beaten, and partly a challenge, because injuries require policy, infrastructure and culture to change, not just medicine. You can follow which causes are rising and falling across all ages on our trending page.
What actually works
The most effective interventions for youth deaths are well known, and many are not medical at all.
| Cause | Proven interventions |
|---|---|
| Road injuries | Helmet laws, speed limits, graduated driver licensing, drink-driving enforcement, safer road design |
| Violence | Violence interruption programmes, alcohol licensing limits, focused policing, youth employment |
| Suicide | Restricting access to means, school mental health programmes, crisis lines, safe media reporting |
| Maternal deaths | Access to contraception, skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care, keeping girls in school |
| HIV | Testing, treatment and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for young people |
| Drowning | Barriers, swimming and water safety skills, supervised childcare |
Helmet laws alone are a striking example: wearing a good-quality motorcycle helmet cuts the risk of death by around 40%, according to the WHO. For a young motorbike taxi rider, that is the single most important decision of the day.
While you were reading this
You have spent about 12 minutes with this article. In that time, roughly 35 to 40 young people aged 10 to 24 have died somewhere in the world. Several of them were on a road, probably on a motorbike or on foot. Several more were killed by someone else. Some took their own lives. At least one was a young woman giving birth.
Across all ages, more than 1,400 people died in those same 12 minutes. You can watch that number grow on our live death counter, see how youth deaths fit the wider picture on our statistics page, or look at the very youngest group on our under 5 page.
Data sources: World Health Organization (Adolescent and young adult health fact sheet, Global Health Estimates, Global Status Report on Road Safety, suicide and drowning fact sheets), UNAIDS, UNICEF, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (WISQARS), Office for National Statistics. Figures are rounded and rankings vary between age bands, years and sources. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you are affected by any of the issues in this article, Samaritans are available free, 24 hours a day, on 116 123 in the UK, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available in the US.
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