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Just the Facts about US healthcare and the health of Americans
Americans have faced many health challenges in recent years, from opioid addiction to COVID-19. And accidental deaths are rising. So what does the government spend on health for its citizens?
How many people die from gun-related injuries in the US each month?
An estimated 3.8K in August 2024, the most recent month for which data is available. This includes homicides, suicides, accidents, and other incidents where a shooting was considered the primary cause of death.
How many measles cases are there in the US?
As of July 29, 2025, 1,333 cases have been confirmed in 2025, 13% of which required hospitalization. There’s been 3 confirmed deaths. This is the highest annual case count since the US declared measles eliminated in 2000.
Updates monthlyWhat are the leading causes of death in the US?
In 2022, heart disease, cancer, and accidents were the leading causes of death. Out of the nearly 3.3 million deaths in 2022, over 1.5 million, or 47%, were due to one of these three causes. The fourth, fifth, and sixth most common causes were COVID-19, cerebrovascular diseases, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.
How many people die by suicide in the United States each year?
About 49,476 people died by suicide in 2022. In other words, there were about 14.2 suicides for every 100,000 people in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says several factors cause suicide and they exist at individual, community, and societal levels.
What does the Veterans Health Administration do?
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is a subdivision of the US Department of Veterans Affairs responsible for providing comprehensive healthcare services to military veterans. The agency operates a nationwide system of medical centers, outpatient clinics, and specialized care facilities, offering services ranging from primary care to specialized treatments for conditions such as PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. It also conducts research and provides training for healthcare professionals. It was established in 1930.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration do?
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a subdivision of the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services to reduce illness, death, disability, and the cost to society resulting from substance abuse and mental illnesses. SAMHSA leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation and works to improve the lives of individuals living with mental and substance use disorders and their families. It was established in 1992.
Updates annuallyWhat does the National Institutes of Health do?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a subdivision of the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for conducting and supporting medical research to improve public health. The agency funds and conducts research in various fields of biomedical science, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. It also provides training for researchers and disseminates health information to the public. It was established in 1887.
Updates annuallyWhat does the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration do?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a subdivision of the US Department of Transportation responsible for ensuring the safety of motor vehicles and road users. The agency sets and enforces safety performance standards for motor vehicles and equipment, conducts research on driver behavior and traffic safety, and provides grants to state and local governments to improve highway safety. It also oversees the recall of vehicles and equipment that pose safety risks. It was established in 1970.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Food Safety and Inspection Service do?
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is a subdivision of the US Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. The agency conducts inspections, enforces food safety regulations, and works to prevent foodborne illnesses through rigorous testing and monitoring. It also provides guidance and education to industry and consumers on food safety practices. It was established in 1977.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Food and Nutrition Service do?
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is a subdivision of the US Department of Agriculture responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs. These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the National School Lunch Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The agency aims to provide children and low-income individuals access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education. It was established in 1969.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Food and Drug Administration do?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a subdivision of the US Department of Health and Human Services responsible for protecting public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, and medical devices. The agency also oversees the safety and security of the nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. It was established in 1906.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Environmental Protection Agency do?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive branch agency responsible for safeguarding human health and protecting the environment by ensuring that people in the US have access to clean air, land, and water. Its functions include developing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress, providing grants to support environmental programs and projects, researches environmental issues, and fostering partnerships with businesses, nonprofits, and state and local governments. It was established in 1970.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Department of Health and Human Services do?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch agency responsible for overseeing public health policy and administering funding for health programs and services. The department's functions include managing national health programs like Medicare and Medicaid, advancing medical research, ensuring food and drug safety, and promoting health equity for all individuals. It was established in 1980 after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was reorganized into separate entities.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services do?
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is a subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for administering the nation’s major healthcare programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The agency ensures that beneficiaries have access to high-quality healthcare services while also working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery. It was established in 1965.
Updates annuallyWhat does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for protecting public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability. The agency conducts research, provides health information, and supports public health efforts to respond to health threats ranging from infectious diseases to chronic conditions. It also works with state and local partners to monitor health trends and promote health equity. It was established in 1946.
Updates annuallyHow many people have mental illness in the United States?
About 58.7 million adults had a mental illness in 2023. That’s the equivalent of 22.8% of the adult population of the U.S, or 2 in 9 adults. This data comes from an annual survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which defines mental illness as a range of disorders, from mild to severe, affecting a person’s thinking, mood, or behavior.
Updates annuallyHow many drug overdose deaths happen every year in the US?
About 105,007 overdose deaths in 2023. That means that for every 100,000 people living in the US, 31 died of a drug overdose. This is the third highest the drug overdose death rate has been since data from 1999 became available.
How much fentanyl is seized at US borders each month?
About 970 pounds in July 2025. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used medically as a pain reliever but is also trafficked illegally due to its potency. In 2023, the latest data available, Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids were involved in 69.0% of fatal accidental drug overdoses in the US.
Updates monthlyHow many IVF babies are born in the US?
Parents who started assisted reproductive technologies (ART) treatments in 2022 gave birth to 98,289 babies, the vast majority of whom were conceived via in vitro fertilization.From 2013 to 2022, the number of ART processes started more than doubled, and the number of infants born using these methods increased by 44.5%. One out of every 37 babies born in the US in 2022 was conceived using these treatments.
Aug 4, 2025Does access to healthcare differ by race and ethnicity?
Across several measures of health and access to healthcare, American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic adults often fare worse than other racial or ethnic identities. In 2024, about 14.8% of Americans were in fair or poor health. Zooming in on demographics reveals disparities between racial and ethnic groups. Adults in four groups — American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic — report higher rates of fair or poor health than the national average.
Aug 1, 2025How many people are on Medicaid in the US?
On average, 89 million or 26.1% of the US population during FY 2024. Enrolling about 1 in 4 people in the US, Medicaid is one of the largest single health insurers in the country. Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program that provides free or low-cost coverage to eligible low-income individuals and families, including children, pregnant women, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Updates annuallyHow many high schoolers are trans?
About one in 30 high schoolers identifies as transgender, according to the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. What does it mean to be transgender?Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s glossary, “transgender” is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from their sex assigned at birth. People whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth are called “cisgender.”What percentage of US high schoolers are trans?When given a description of what it means to be trans, 3.3% of high schoolers reported that it applied to them. Of the other students, 93.3% of reported not identifying as trans, 2.2% weren’t sure, and 1.3% didn’t understand the question.
Jul 7, 2025How far into pregnancy do most abortions happen?
In 2022, two out of five (40.2%) of reported abortions occurred within the first six weeks of pregnancy. Another 38.4% happened between seven and nine weeks, and 14.2% within 10 and 13 weeks. Put another way, 92.8% of reported abortions were performed before three and a half months of pregnancy.Farther into pregnancy, abortions are less common. Of the remaining 7.2% of reported abortions, 3.0% occurred between 14 and 15 weeks, 1.6% at 16 to 17 weeks, 1.5% at 18 to 20 weeks, and 1.1% at 21 weeks or more.
Jul 3, 2025How many people get sick from foodborne illnesses?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 9.9 million people (or a population that’s a bit more than New Jersey) contract foodborne illnesses every year. Of those, an estimated 53,300 people are hospitalized and 931 die.Foodborne illnesses are severely underreported; some outbreaks are never reported to local health departments, and some are never formally identified because individuals do not seek medical assistance. The CDC’s National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) collects all the data it can, but reporting is voluntary. Based NORS data, the number of reported illnesses decreased 65% from 1998 to 2023. In 2023, 9,521 Americans reported becoming sick from a foodborne illness.
May 8, 2025Which states have the highest and lowest life expectancy?
From 2022 to 2023, life expectancy across the United States rose from 77.5 to 78.4 years, according to final death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).But what exactly does life expectancy mean? And how does it vary by state?
Mar 27, 2025Drug prices have outpaced inflation since the 1980s
Drug prices were 5.5 times higher in 2024 than in 1985, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, and their increases are outpacing general cost-of-living increases: The cost of medication has gone up three times as fast as the overall rate of inflation, with drugs targeting heart disease rising the fastest.
Mar 21, 2025Do women live longer than men in the US?
In the United States, women are expected to outlive men by 5.3 years. This longevity gap, which was two years in 1900, grew to nearly eight around 1980 before dropping to its current level. What are the average lifespans for men and women born in the US?
Mar 21, 2025Which vaccines are recommended for American adults?
Federal vaccine recommendations and state mandates only apply to children, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also recommends that adults stay up to date on certain vaccines. Which ones? It depends; recommended vaccinations depend on factors like age, pregnancy, or medical conditions increase infection risks.
Mar 12, 2025How many kids are vaccinated?
Children born during the COVID-19 pandemic are getting fewer vaccines compared to children born in the 2010s. To control infectious diseases in the US population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all kids get a set of vaccines known as the “combined 7-series” vaccines, by the time they turn 2. Though trends for the individual vaccines in the series vary, complete vaccination is trending downward: 72.8% of children born in 2020 and 2021 got the full set of seven by 35 months, compared to 74.4% of children born in 2013–2014.
Feb 7, 2025Is bird flu impacting egg prices?
Avian flu cases have emerged in flocks of both commercial and wild birds since 2022, contributing to spikes in egg prices, which crossed $4 a dozen in late 2024. What is the avian flu? Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly called the bird flu, is the general term for a group of viruses that usually spread between birds but can also infect mammals, including humans. The symptoms include those usually associated with the flu: fever, cough, sore throat, aches, and fatigue. With bird flu in particular, conjunctivitis is also common. The health risk for humans is low — 67 people contracted bird flu in 2024, resulting in one death, and there hasn’t been any person-to-person spread — but the H5 strain of bird flu has been impacting America’s commercial poultry flocks on a large scale, and is now spreading among herds of cows.
Jan 23, 2025The Affordable Care Act and the data: Who is insured and who isn't
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a comprehensive healthcare reform act signed into law in March 2010, during Barack Obama’s first presidency.The legislation aimed to “make affordable health insurance available to more people” by offering tax credits to some enrollees, expanding Medicaid to be available based on income alone, and supporting innovation to lower the cost of providing healthcare.Is Obamacare the same thing as the ACA?Yes — “Obamacare” is an unofficial nickname for the ACA, used both inside and outside of government.What did the ACA do?The ACA had implications across the healthcare and insurance industries, including introducing a number of changes to how people get insured.In 2013, 85.5% of Americans were covered by public or private health insurance, leaving 14.5% uninsured. The ACA went into effect in 2014. By 2016, 91.4% were insured, dropping the uninsured percentage to 8.6%, a 5.9-point shift.In early 2023, the Department of Health and Human Services reported that more than 40 million people had enrolled in ACA-related insurance plans.
Jan 17, 2025How common are triplets and higher-order births?
In 1998, around 19 in 10,000 babies born in the US was a triplet (or more). By 2023, around seven in 10,000 were. How many is 10,000? It's just over half the capacity of Madison Square Garden. Both medical professionals and the general public have long been interested in pregnancies that result in two or more babies — also called multiple birth pregnancies. While twins are a familiar phenomenon, triplets, quadruplets, or more, are less common.What does “multiple births” mean?The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines “multiple births” as when a pregnancy results in two or more fetuses being delivered. Twin births are the most common type of multiple birth. In 2023, the rate of twin births was 306 per 10,000 births, or 3.06%. How common are triplets and higher-order multiple births?In 1998, the rate of triplets or higher-order multiple births was 193.5 out of 100,000 live births, or a rate of 0.19%. In 2023, this rate was 73.8 out of 100,000. That’s 0.07% of live births that year. Overall, from 1998 to 2023, the rate of triplets and higher-order multiple births dropped 61.9%.
Jan 2, 2025How have US fertility and birth rates changed over time?
Women nationwide are giving birth to fewer children than they did 100 years ago, 10 years ago, and even a year ago. Those who do are increasingly having children later in life. Measuring a nation’s fertility and birth rates helps explain how demographics may shift over time.How are fertility rates calculated?The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines the general fertility rate as the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.
Oct 25, 2024How many people skip medical treatment due to healthcare costs?
In 2023, 27% of American adults skipped some form of medical treatment because they couldn’t afford it, according to the Federal Reserve. This is lower than the 32% who avoided care in 2013, when data collection began, but ties with 2015 and 2017 as the fourth-highest year on record.The probability of declining medical care seems to correlate with income: 42% of people with a family income under $25,000 skipped some medical treatment in 2023, compared to 12% of people with incomes over $100,000.
Oct 14, 2024Which states are people traveling to for abortions?
According to the most recent national abortion data, 74,244 pregnant women traveled outside of their areas of residence for abortions in 2021. That’s 11.9% of all abortions reported that year. California, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New Jersey did not submit abortion data.Where are people traveling to get abortions?Washington, DC, had the highest rate of non-residents traveling for an abortion, at 70.8% and Kansas had the second highest rate at 49.9%.Abortion medication is available in Kansas, though abortions are prohibited after 22 weeks of gestation. Surrounding states Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma all have laws prohibiting abortion regardless of gestational age.Abortion medication is available in Washington, DC, and in nearby Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia.
Aug 30, 2024US cancer rates and trends: how have cancer rates and mortality changed over time?
Cancer has been one of the top two leading causes of death in the United States for over 75 years. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), nearly 40.5% of all Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives.According to NCI data, 2024 could have over 2.0 million new cancer cases. It projects approximately 611,720 people could die from cancer.However, even though the overall number of cases rises as the population grows, fewer people are getting and dying from cancer. Between 2000 and 2021, the incidence rate — or the rate of new cancer cases per 100,000 people — declined by 5.7%, while the annual mortality rate fell by 27.5%.In 2021, age-adjusted figures show 458.3 new cancer cases and 144.2 deaths per 100,000 individuals.As of January 2022, an estimated 18.1 million cancer survivors were in the United States. That’s approximately 5.4% of the population.There are some disparities in cancer rates across different population demographics. As of 2022, Black and Indigenous Americans are more likely than any other racial demographic to die from the disease.However, age is still the most indicative cancer risk factor for all racial and ethnic groups.Cancer rates also vary between states due to differing local risk factors.
Jul 29, 2024Mammograms are recommended beginning at age 50. Are women getting them?
Adjusting for age, 71.6% of women 50 and older have had a mammogram screening in the past two years. This figure includes women of all backgrounds, including education, race, income level, and other factors, including insurance status — which denotes the biggest gap between who does or doesn’t get screened.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, with approximately 119 per 100,000 women in the United States diagnosed with a new case in 2020. Among women’s cancer deaths, it is the second most common cause, responsible for approximately 19 deaths per 100,000 women in 2020.
Oct 24, 2023Has vehicle traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels?
Preliminary data from the Federal Highway Administration has American drivers logging a total of 2,154,571,000,000 miles this year to date — that’s 2.15 trillion — the most vehicle miles traveled during the first eight months of a calendar year since 2019.How much did the pandemic impact vehicle traffic?According to the USAFacts America in Facts 2023 report, the number of miles driven in the US increased at an average rate of 2% annually between 1970 and 2019. In 2020, fewer people traveled to work, school, or other destinations due to the pandemic, and vehicle miles dropped 11%. Miles driven rose again in 2021, 2022, and the first eight months of 2023.
Nov 3, 2023Where mental illness is increasing in the US
In 2019, adults in the US experienced mental illness at a higher rate than the decade prior. Within the previous year, 20.6% of adults had experienced a mental illness, compared to 18.1% in 2009, according to estimates from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.The increase is more pronounced for adults ages 18–25, reflecting trends among children and teens in recent years. The implications reach throughout the world of public policy, prompting discussions about mental health and access to professional services, alternatives to police responses to mental health crises, and the role of schools in addressing mental health at an early age.
Nov 16, 2023