John Elflein
Research expert covering health and health care
Unintentional injury in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts
In 2022, unintentional injuries or accidents were the third leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for around seven percent of all deaths. An estimated 227,664 people died from unintentional injuries in 2022, with the highest death rates from unintentional injuries found among the elderly. The most common types of unintentional injuries that lead to death involve poisonings, falls, and motor vehicles.
Occupational injury
Accidents in the workplace, or occupational injuries, have decreased since the early 1990s, but remain a serious danger within specific occupations. Leading causes of disabling workplace injuries include overexertion, falls, and being struck by an object or equipment. Occupations with high fatal work injury rates include logging workers, fishing and hunting workers, roofers, and aircraft pilots and flight engineers. In 2021, there were approximately 5,190 occupational injury deaths in the U.S., with the largest portion involving those aged 55 to 64 years.Motor vehicle injuries
Motor vehicle injuries are the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death, with 38,824 such deaths in 2020. Rates of death from motor vehicle injuries have decreased significantly since the 1970s as technology has improved the safety of motor vehicles. In 1970, there were 26.8 deaths from motor vehicle injuries per 100,000 population, but, by 2022, this rate had decreased to 13.8 per 100,000 population. The risk of motor vehicle injury can depend on the vehicle type, make, and model. In 2020, passenger cars and light trucks each accounted for around 38 percent of vehicles involved in fatal traffic crashes.Spinal and head injuries
Some of the worst unintentional injuries involve spinal cord or head injuries, or more specifically, brain trauma. These types of injuries can lead to permanent physical or mental disability and even death. Motor vehicles resulted in the largest share of spinal cord injuries between 2015 and 2023, accounting for 37.5 percent of such injuries. As of 2023, there were around 18,000 spinal cord injuries every year and about 30 percent of people with such injuries were re-hospitalized in any given year. The estimated lifetime cost of a patient who is 25 years old and suffering from paraplegia in the United States was almost three million dollars as of 2023.
