What are Latin Americans Dying From?

If you're 15 to 49 years old and in Latin America, violence is the most likely event to kill you.

The good news is that your chances of dying are pretty low overall if you're in this age group. Our chart depicts the causes of death only for people 15 to 49 years old, which is a comparatively healthy group. We picked this category because the variability by country is intriguing. In young and old age, the usual diseases and health complications are more likely to take lives globally; between 15-49, however, different countries have different problems.

Over one-fifth of 15 to 49-year-olds’ deaths in LatAm are due to violence, making it the leading cause of death. Violence is among the top three causes of death for 11 out of LatAm's 20 countries. For comparison:

The World's leading cause of death is heart disease, and violence is not in the top 3

The US' leading cause of death is drug use, and violence is not in the top 3

Europe & Central Asia's leading cause is also heart disease, and violence is not in the top 3

And in second place? Cancer, which accounts for 15% of 15 to 49-year-olds' deaths. All LatAm countries count Cancer as one of their top 3 causes of death, the only exception being the Dominican Republic. Heart disease is the third leading cause of death, accounting for about 13% of the total. This is on par with the rest of the World, as cardiovascular diseases account for around 18% of global deaths.

Some interesting outliers: Paraguay & Ecuador are the only two countries in the region where road injuries are the top killer. In Paraguay, around half of all deaths in this category involve motorcycles — a number that rises to 60% in the capital. Chile & Uruguay also differ from the rest; suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in both countries — accounting for 13% and 16% of deaths, respectively. Interestingly, these two countries are also among LatAm's most developed and have some of the lowest rates of violence.

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