The leading causes of death among children aged 5 to 9 years in the United States in 2020 were unintentional injuries, cancer, and congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, unintentional injuries accounted for around 31 percent of all deaths among this age group.
Child abuse in the U.S.
Sadly, assault or homicide, was the fourth leading cause of death among those aged 5 to 9 years in the United States, accounting for almost eight percent of all deaths. In 2021, there were around 120,243 cases of child abuse in the U.S. among children aged 6 to 9 years and 138,128 cases among children aged 2 to 5 years. That year there were almost five child deaths per day in the United States due to abuse and neglect.
Suicide among children
Assault or homicide was also among the top five leading causes of death among children aged 10 to 14 years, but perhaps even more troubling is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among this age group. As with younger children, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14 years, however, suicide accounts for 17 percent of all deaths among this age group. Comparatively, suicide is not among the ten-leading causes of death among children from the age 1 to 9 years.
