Health Status

Death rates for firearm-related injuries, according to sex, detailed race, Hispanic origin, and age: United States, selected years 1970-96

Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
All persons	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	14.0	14.8	12.8	13.4	14.6	14.9	15.6	15.1	13.9	12.9	14.0
All ages, crude	13.0	14.9	13.3	13.9	14.9	14.8	15.4	14.8	13.7	12.8	13.8
Under 1 year	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	0.3
1-14 years	1.6	1.4	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.7	1.8	1.6	1.6	1.3	1.5
1-4 years	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6
5-14 years	1.7	1.6	1.8	1.9	1.9	2.1	2.3	2.0	2.0	1.6	1.9
15-24 years	15.5	20.6	17.2	20.6	25.8	29.1	31.1	30.8	27.2	24.2	27.4
25-44 years	20.9	22.5	17.9	18.3	19.3	18.6	19.3	18.8	17.2	16.1	17.4
25-34 years	22.2	24.3	19.3	20.4	21.8	21.3	22.4	21.9	20.1	18.3	20.1
35-44 years	19.6	20.0	16.0	15.8	16.3	15.6	16.0	15.6	14.4	14.0	14.7
45-64 years	17.6	15.2	14.3	13.4	13.6	13.0	13.2	12.2	11.8	11.9	12.0
45-54 years	18.1	16.4	14.7	13.5	13.9	13.3	13.7	12.8	12.1	12.3	12.4
55-64 years	17.0	13.9	13.9	13.3	13.3	12.5	12.5	11.4	11.4	11.2	11.3
65 years and over	13.8	13.5	15.6	16.2	16.0	14.8	15.1	14.3	14.2	13.9	14.1
65-74 years	14.5	13.8	15.1	14.9	14.4	13.6	13.5	12.6	12.9	12.6	12.7
75-84 years	13.4	13.4	17.7	19.3	19.4	17.2	17.7	16.9	16.4	15.9	16.4
85 years and over	10.2	11.6	12.2	13.6	14.7	14.4	15.4	15.1	14.6	14.5	14.7
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Male	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	23.8	25.3	21.9	23.0	25.4	25.9	26.9	26.2	24.1	22.4	24.2
All ages, crude	22.2	25.7	22.8	24.1	26.2	26.0	26.8	26.0	23.9	22.5	24.1
Under 1 year	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
1-14 years	2.3	2.0	2.1	2.2	2.2	2.5	2.6	2.3	2.3	1.8	2.1
1-4 years	1.2	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.7
5-14 years	2.7	2.5	2.7	2.8	2.9	3.2	3.4	3.0	2.9	2.4	2.8
15-24 years	26.4	34.8	29.1	35.5	44.7	50.9	54.0	54.0	47.6	42.2	47.9
25-44 years	34.1	38.1	29.7	30.5	32.6	31.5	32.2	31.7	28.9	27.0	29.2
25-34 years	36.5	41.4	32.1	34.2	37.0	36.4	37.8	37.4	34.3	31.4	34.4
35-44 years	31.6	33.2	26.6	26.0	27.4	26.1	26.4	26.0	23.7	22.9	24.2
45-64 years	31.0	25.9	24.5	22.9	23.4	22.4	22.7	21.0	20.2	20.4	20.5
45-54 years	30.7	27.3	24.4	22.4	23.2	22.4	23.1	21.3	20.4	20.5	20.7
55-64 years	31.3	24.5	24.6	23.5	23.7	22.3	22.2	20.5	20.0	20.2	20.2
65 years and over	29.7	29.7	34.2	35.5	35.3	32.3	32.8	31.2	30.9	30.2	30.8
65-74 years	29.5	27.8	30.0	29.4	28.2	26.5	26.2	24.6	25.3	24.8	24.9
75-84 years	31.0	33.0	42.7	47.0	46.9	40.6	41.9	39.9	37.7	36.4	37.9
85 years and over	26.2	34.9	38.2	43.1	49.3	47.3	50.5	49.7	47.4	46.7	47.9
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Female	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	4.8	4.8	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.1	4.6	4.2	4.0	3.6	3.9
All ages, crude	4.4	4.7	4.2	4.2	4.3	4.1	4.5	4.1	3.9	3.6	3.9
Under 1 year	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
1-14 years	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.8
1-4 years	0.9	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.5
5-14 years	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.1	1.0	0.9	0.8	0.9
15-24 years	4.8	6.1	5.0	5.1	6.0	6.2	7.1	6.5	6.0	5.1	5.9
25-44 years	8.3	7.4	6.2	6.3	6.1	5.8	6.4	6.0	5.6	5.2	5.6
25-34 years	8.4	7.5	6.6	6.7	6.7	6.2	7.1	6.5	5.9	5.2	5.9
35-44 years	8.2	7.2	5.8	5.8	5.4	5.3	5.8	5.5	5.3	5.1	5.3
45-64 years	5.4	5.4	5.0	4.7	4.5	4.2	4.4	4.1	4.0	3.9	4.0
45-54 years	6.4	6.2	5.6	5.1	4.9	4.6	4.8	4.6	4.3	4.4	4.4
55-64 years	4.2	4.6	4.5	4.3	4.0	3.7	3.8	3.3	3.5	3.1	3.3
65 years and over	2.4	2.5	3.2	3.2	3.1	3.0	3.0	2.7	2.8	2.6	2.7
65-74 years	2.8	3.1	3.6	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.4	3.0	3.0	2.8	2.9
75-84 years	1.7	1.7	3.0	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.5	2.8	2.6	2.7
85 years and over	*	1.3	1.8	2.1	1.3	1.6	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.8
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
White male	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	18.2	21.1	19.4	19.3	20.5	20.4	20.7	20.4	19.3	18.0	19.2
All ages, crude	17.6	21.8	20.7	20.7	21.8	21.3	21.5	21.1	20.1	19.0	20.1
1-14 years	1.8	1.9	2.1	1.9	1.9	1.9	2.0	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.7
15-24 years	16.9	28.4	24.1	25.3	29.5	32.4	33.0	34.2	31.4	26.9	30.8
25-44 years	24.2	29.5	25.0	24.4	25.7	24.8	25.1	24.9	23.6	22.0	23.5
25-34 years	24.3	31.1	26.3	26.0	27.8	27.0	27.9	27.6	26.1	23.6	25.8
35-44 years	24.1	27.1	23.3	22.5	23.3	22.6	22.2	22.3	21.2	20.6	21.3
45-64 years	27.4	23.3	23.6	22.5	22.8	21.8	22.0	20.6	19.7	20.2	20.2
65 years and over	29.9	30.1	35.4	37.0	36.8	33.8	34.4	32.5	32.3	31.8	32.2
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Black male	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	73.4	61.8	42.2	51.0	61.5	64.5	68.8	65.1	55.6	52.0	57.5
All ages, crude	60.6	57.7	41.3	51.7	61.9	63.9	67.6	63.8	54.0	50.6	56.1
1-14 years	5.3	3.0	2.7	4.0	4.4	5.8	6.1	5.2	4.6	3.6	4.4
15-24 years	97.3	77.9	61.3	99.0	138.0	162.3	179.0	169.6	140.2	131.6	147.0
25-44 years	126.2	114.1	71.8	82.1	90.3	85.6	88.2	84.5	71.2	67.0	74.2
25-34 years	145.6	128.4	79.8	97.1	108.6	108.3	110.7	109.0	94.4	88.6	97.4
35-44 years	104.2	92.3	59.2	60.7	66.1	58.6	62.3	57.7	46.6	44.7	49.5
45-64 years	71.1	55.6	36.9	30.7	34.5	32.1	33.4	29.1	29.1	27.0	28.4
65 years and over	30.6	29.7	26.3	24.8	23.9	22.0	22.0	23.2	21.4	19.1	21.2
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
American Indian or Alaska Native male²	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	26.5	24.9	24.0	20.8	20.0	21.8	24.6	23.4	19.4	22.4
All ages, crude	- - -	27.5	24.4	24.1	20.5	19.6	21.2	24.1	22.9	19.1	22.0
15-24 years	- - -	55.3	39.8	48.1	49.1	43.2	37.3	54.6	45.5	40.0	46.6
25-44 years	- - -	43.9	40.3	34.4	25.4	25.0	32.7	33.8	34.1	26.7	31.5
45-64 years	- - -	*	21.2	*	*	*	18.5	13.6	15.6	13.8	14.3
65 years and over	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	11.2
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Asian or Pacific Islander male³	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	8.1	7.1	8.4	9.2	10.4	11.9	10.9	10.8	8.7	10.1
All ages, crude	- - -	8.2	7.3	8.6	9.4	10.5	11.7	10.8	10.4	8.6	9.9
15-24 years	- - -	10.8	12.6	14.2	21.0	25.0	27.6	26.9	27.1	19.6	24.4
25-44 years	- - -	12.8	9.8	11.0	10.9	11.7	13.5	13.0	11.3	10.0	11.4
45-64 years	- - -	10.4	6.7	9.3	8.1	8.8	9.7	7.4	8.6	7.7	7.9
65 years and over	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	5.5
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Hispanic male⁴	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	- - -	25.3	23.8	28.9	31.0	30.5	29.9	28.0	22.5	26.7
All ages, crude	- - -	- - -	26.0	24.5	29.9	31.7	30.8	30.0	27.6	22.6	26.6
1-14 years	- - -	- - -	1.4	1.4	2.6	2.5	2.7	2.3	2.9	1.9	2.4
15-24 years	- - -	- - -	42.0	40.4	55.5	72.6	70.3	72.0	70.7	54.4	65.3
25-44 years	- - -	- - -	43.2	37.4	42.7	41.6	40.0	38.8	33.5	27.5	33.1
25-34 years	- - -	- - -	47.3	39.9	47.3	46.8	46.0	45.5	39.9	32.8	39.2
35-44 years	- - -	- - -	35.9	33.0	35.4	33.8	31.2	29.5	24.9	20.8	24.9
45-64 years	- - -	- - -	19.2	20.6	21.4	19.2	21.1	19.2	17.2	16.2	17.5
65 years and over	- - -	- - -	12.4	15.3	19.1	16.1	16.7	14.7	15.6	11.7	13.9
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
White, non-Hispanic male⁴	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	- - -	18.4	17.9	18.7	18.0	18.3	18.1	17.2	16.4	17.2
All ages, crude	- - -	- - -	19.9	19.7	20.4	19.4	19.8	19.5	18.6	18.0	18.7
1-14 years	- - -	- - -	2.0	1.8	1.6	1.7	1.8	1.6	1.6	1.4	1.5
15-24 years	- - -	- - -	22.0	22.1	24.1	24.3	25.3	26.3	23.3	20.4	23.3
25-44 years	- - -	- - -	23.0	22.0	23.3	22.0	22.4	22.4	21.6	20.6	21.5
25-34 years	- - -	- - -	23.7	23.0	24.7	23.2	24.1	23.9	22.9	21.2	22.7
35-44 years	- - -	- - -	22.0	20.8	21.6	20.8	20.6	20.9	20.4	20.1	20.5
45-64 years	- - -	- - -	23.0	21.9	22.7	21.6	21.7	20.5	19.7	20.2	20.1
65 years and over	- - -	- - -	37.3	38.6	37.4	34.0	34.7	33.2	32.7	32.6	32.8
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
White female	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	4.0	4.2	3.9	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.9	3.6	3.5	3.1	3.4
All ages, crude	3.7	4.1	4.0	3.8	3.8	3.6	3.9	3.6	3.5	3.2	3.5
15-24 years	3.4	5.1	4.4	4.1	4.8	4.7	5.2	4.9	4.6	3.8	4.4
25-44 years	6.9	6.2	5.6	5.3	5.3	4.9	5.5	5.2	5.0	4.6	4.9
45-64 years	5.0	5.1	5.0	4.7	4.5	4.3	4.5	4.1	4.0	3.9	4.0
65 years and over	2.2	2.5	3.2	3.3	3.1	3.1	3.0	2.7	2.9	2.6	2.7
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Black female	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	11.4	9.1	6.6	7.6	7.8	8.1	8.8	8.0	6.8	6.5	7.1
All ages, crude	10.0	8.8	6.5	7.7	7.8	8.0	8.6	7.8	6.6	6.4	6.9
15-24 years	15.2	12.3	8.3	11.2	13.3	15.3	18.3	15.5	13.5	12.0	13.7
25-44 years	19.4	16.1	11.4	13.1	12.4	12.4	12.9	11.9	10.0	9.8	10.5
45-64 years	10.2	8.2	5.8	5.2	4.8	4.1	4.0	4.6	4.1	4.1	4.2
65 years and over	4.3	3.1	3.7	2.8	3.1	2.7	3.0	2.9	2.6	3.0	2.8
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
American Indian or Alaska Native female²	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	6.1	4.3	3.6	3.6	2.3	4.5	4.5	4.5	3.8	4.3
All ages, crude	- - -	5.8	4.1	3.8	3.4	2.2	4.5	4.4	4.4	3.7	4.2
15-24 years	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	6.0
25-44 years	- - -	10.2	*	6.9	*	*	7.8	7.5	7.7	5.9	7.0
45-64 years	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
65 years and over	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Asian or Pacific Islander female³	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	2.0	1.7	1.8	2.0	2.1	2.6	2.1	2.2	1.7	2.0
All ages, crude	- - -	2.1	1.7	2.0	2.1	2.1	2.6	2.1	2.2	1.7	2.0
15-24 years	- - -	*	*	*	*	3.4	3.8	4.0	4.2	3.7	4.0
25-44 years	- - -	3.2	2.2	3.4	2.7	2.7	3.5	2.6	2.9	2.1	2.5
45-64 years	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	2.9	*	*	*	1.9
65 years and over	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
Hispanic female⁴	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	- - -	3.2	3.1	3.6	3.7	4.0	3.5	3.5	2.8	3.2
All ages, crude	- - -	- - -	3.2	3.1	3.6	3.6	3.9	3.4	3.4	2.7	3.1
15-24 years	- - -	- - -	5.1	5.5	6.9	6.2	7.8	6.9	6.6	5.0	6.1
25-44 years	- - -	- - -	5.5	4.7	5.1	5.3	5.2	5.0	4.9	4.1	4.6
45-64 years	- - -	- - -	2.2	2.1	2.4	3.0	2.6	2.4	2.4	2.3	2.4
65 years and over	- - -	- - -	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1.1
Sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age	1970	1980	1985	1988	1990	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1994-96¹
White, non-Hispanic female⁴	Deaths per 100,000 resident population
All ages, age adjusted	- - -	- - -	3.9	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.7	3.5	3.4	3.1	3.3
All ages, crude	- - -	- - -	4.1	3.8	3.7	3.5	3.8	3.6	3.5	3.2	3.4
15-24 years	- - -	- - -	4.5	3.9	4.3	4.3	4.6	4.5	4.1	3.5	4.0
25-44 years	- - -	- - -	5.6	5.3	5.1	4.8	5.4	5.1	4.8	4.5	4.8
45-64 years	- - -	- - -	5.1	4.9	4.6	4.4	4.5	4.1	4.1	4.0	4.1
65 years and over	- - -	- - -	3.4	3.6	3.2	3.1	3.0	2.7	2.9	2.7	2.8
* Based on fewer than 20 deaths. - - - Data not available. ¹ Average annual death rate. ² Interpretation of trends should take into account that population estimates for American Indians increased by 45 percent between 1980 and 1990, partly due to better enumeration techniques in the 1990 decennial census and to the increased tendency for people to identify themselves as American Indian in 1990. ³ Interpretation of trends should take into account that the Asian population in the United States more than doubled between 1980 and 1990, primarily due to immigration. ⁴ Excludes data from States lacking an Hispanic-origin item on their death certificates. See Appendix I, National Vital Statistics System.
NOTES: For data years shown, the code numbers for cause of death are based on the then current International Classification of Diseases, which are described in Appendix II, tables IV and V. Age groups chosen to show data for American Indians, Asians, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites were selected to minimize the presentation of unstable age-specific death rates based on small numbers of deaths and for consistency among comparison groups. The race groups, white, black, Asian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native, include persons of Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin. Conversely, persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Consistency of race identification between the death certificate (source of data for numerator of death rates) and data from the Census Bureau (denominator) is high for individual white and black persons; however, persons identified as American Indian, Asian, or Hispanic origin in data from the Census Bureau are sometimes misreported as white or non-Hispanic on the death certificate, causing death rates to be underestimated by 22-30 percent for American Indians, about 12 percent for Asians, and about 7 percent for persons of Hispanic origin. (Sorlie PD, Rogot E, and Johnson NJ: Validity of demographic characteristics on the death certificate, Epidemiology 3(2):181-184, 1992.)
SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics of the United States, vol II, mortality, part A, for data years 1970-96. Washington: Public Health Service; data computed by the Division of Health and Utilization Analysis from data compiled by the Division of Vital Statistics and from national population estimates for race groups from table 1 and unpublished Hispanic population estimates prepared by the Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census.

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