COSTA RICA VS USA: TOP 10 CAUSES OF DEATH

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	UNITED STATES		COSTA RICA		Deaths
Cause Of Death	Rnk	Deaths	Rnk	Deaths	Summary
Coronary Heart Disease	1	7,775	1	2,639	+ 5,135
Alzheimers & Dementia	2	4,422	8	818	+ 3,604
Lung Disease	3	3,009	4	1,046	+ 1,962
Stroke	4	2,441	2	1,624	+ 817
Lung Cancers	5	2,395	20	343	+ 2,051
Kidney Disease	6	1,322	3	1,482	- 160
Drug Use	7	1,146	43	63	+ 1,083
Hypertension	8	1,016	6	863	+ 153
Colon-Rectum Cancers	9	952	12	621	+ 331
Diabetes Mellitus	10	946	5	953	- 8
Influenza and Pneumonia	11	929	7	836	+ 93
Suicide	12	818	15	407	+ 411
Breast Cancer	13	749	16	384	+ 365
Endocrine Disorders	14	723	27	183	+ 540
Pancreas Cancer	15	682	22	294	+ 388
Liver Disease	16	668	18	370	+ 299
Road Traffic Accidents	17	642	9	746	- 104
Falls	18	622	35	116	+ 506
Lymphomas	19	620	19	356	+ 265
Prostate Cancer	20	548	14	448	+ 100
Parkinson's Disease	21	531	30	138	+ 393
Inflammatory/Heart	22	501	26	191	+ 310
Liver Cancer	23	417	17	382	+ 35
Leukemia	24	415	24	262	+ 154
Other Injuries	25	400	13	571	- 170
Bladder Cancer	26	302	36	100	+ 202
Violence	27	292	11	635	- 343
Oesophagus Cancer	28	275	44	61	+ 214
Other Neoplasms	29	273	23	266	+ 8
Alcohol	30	226	33	126	+ 100
Ovary Cancer	31	225	40	80	+ 144
Skin Cancers	32	220	31	137	+ 84
Stomach Cancer	33	201	10	661	- 459
Congenital Anomalies	34	181	21	315	- 134
Oral Cancer	35	178	38	96	+ 82
Uterin Cancer	36	155	41	80	+ 75
Diarrhoeal diseases	37	153	39	87	+ 66
Cervical Cancer	38	108	29	159	- 51
Low Birth Weight	39	107	28	178	- 71
Malnutrition	40	104	48	37	+ 67
Hepatitis C	41	88	64	1	+ 86
HIV/AIDS	42	87	25	192	- 105
Skin Disease	43	83	32	126	- 43
Multiple Sclerosis	44	78	57	11	+ 67
Drownings	45	63	37	97	- 34
Asthma	46	59	45	60	- 2
Rheumatic Heart Disease	47	56	49	32	+ 24
Peptic Ulcer Disease	48	53	42	74	- 20
Fires	49	49	58	10	+ 39
Epilepsy	50	49	34	116	- 67
Anemia	51	48	51	25	+ 23
Rheumatoid Arthritis	52	38	46	55	- 17
Poisonings	53	26	60	5	+ 20
Birth Trauma	54	19	47	48	- 29
War	55	18	68	1	+ 18
Maternal Conditions	56	12	55	17	- 5
Schizophrenia	57	11	53	21	- 10
Prostatic Hypertrophy	58	10	56	13	- 3
Hepatitis B	59	9	59	7	+ 2
Meningitis	60	9	54	18	- 8
Osteoarthritis	61	9	61	5	+ 4
Tuberculosis	62	8	50	32	- 23
Appendicitis	63	7	52	22	- 15
Oral conditions	64	4	66	1	+ 3
Upper Respiratory	65	4	62	3	+ 1
Syphilis	66	1	65	1	- 0
Otitis Media	67	1	82	0	+ 1
Encephalitis	68	0	63	3	- 2
Pertussis	69	0	69	0	+ 0
Chagas disease	70	0	79	0	+ 0
Tetanus	71	0	74	0	+ 0
Schistosomiasis	72	0	76	0	+ 0
Iodine Deficiency	73	0	83	0	+ 0
Leprosy	74	0	67	1	- 1
Diphtheria	75	0	73	0	+ 0
Dengue	76	0	70	0	- 0
Malaria	77	0	78	0	+ 0
Trypanosomiasis	78	0	77	0	- 0
Leishmaniasis	79	0	72	0	- 0
Measles	80	0	75	0	- 0
Hookworm Disease	81	0	80	0	- 0
Ascariasis	82	0	71	0	- 0
Trichuriasis	83	0	81	0	- 0
Chlamydia	84	0	84	0	- 0
Vitamin A Deficiency	85	0	86	0	- 0
Depression	86	0	85	0	- 0
TOTAL DEATHS

Note: Population is Equalized to COSTA RICA

United States

Costa Rica

THE INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE

The point of this intellectual exercise is to measure what would happen if two countries shared the same leading causes of death. To make these comparisons possible we equalized the population and used total deaths for each country's top 10 causes to simulate an "Exchange." Use the chart on the left to sort by the country name and use the summary plus and minus column to measure the differences in total deaths.

Life Expectancy statistics are calculated the same way everywhere in the world, but what we die from can be very different depending upon where we live. Despite these differences, with rare exception, the top 10 causes of death for any given country will represent between 70-80% of their total deaths. This is an intellectual exercise only, not a comparison of which country is healthier or to challenge existing life expectancy rankings. If you prefer to see total deaths for over 80 causes and choose your own countries to compare go here: https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-rankings-total-deaths

ABOUT OUR DATA

All meaningful comparisons between countries should be made using the same data source and year. The most reliable source for International comparisons is the World Health Organization because it is standardized for cross cultural comparisons. It is also reviewed annually, which often makes it more current than individual country data that can take years to compile. The WHO data includes individual country "projections," that are calculated based upon an annual consultation with each country before it is published. There are differences however, such as WHO data separates different forms of heart disease and cancer and combines Alzheimer's with Dementia. In this top 10 comparison WHO data for both countries was used.