Since 1921, the leading cause of death in the US has been heart disease.
One hundred years ago, influenza and pneumonia killed the most Americans. But by 1939, these infectious diseases dropped to the fifth largest cause of deaths in the US, where they remained for decades.
Today, influenza and pneumonia are No. 8 on the list of the top 10 things that kill Americans, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts out every year. The agency released the 2014 numbers Dec. 9.
The top 10 causes accounted for nearly three-quarters of all deaths in the US, which numbered 2.6 million in 2014.
Chronic lower respiratory diseases, which include chronic bronchitis and emphysema, were the third leading cause of death, followed by unintentional injuries, which include car accidents and falls. Here's the full list, which shows deaths from each cause per 100,000 people:
Five of the causes on the list were responsible for fewer deaths in 2014 than in 2013. But unintentional injuries, strokes, Alzheimer's disease, and suicide all had slight increases last year.
The top 10 causes of death lists from 1900 to 1998 show a shift away from infectious diseases, like tuberculosis and diarrhea, as prevention (like vaccines) and treatments (like antibiotics) were introduced. Because people started living longer, the top causes of death shift toward diseases that are more common in old age, like cancer and Alzheimer's.
Americans' overall life expectancy at birth remained at 78.8 years in 2014, according to the CDC report. Back in 1900, it was only 47.3. We've come a long way.
