To create his chart, Yau used data from the CDC's Underlying² Cause of Death Database, a rather bleak³ collection of US death statistics from 1999 to 2014. Using information obtained from Americans' death certificates, the database catalogs deaths based on age, race, gender⁴, year and cause of death, among other metrics.

 

Once you enter your sex, race and age, the chart will kick into motion. For each year past your current age, it'll show you how likely you are to die of various common causes of death: infection, cancer, blood, endocrine, mental, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, genitourinary, perinatal, congenital and external causes.

 

For every year past your current age, the chart will also show you the likeliness of having died by that point.

 

The main point, which is what you'd expect, is that mortality rate is much lower in the earlier years of life than in the older years. But, if you do die at a younger age, it's much more likely due to something external rather than a disease.

 

You can also look at it the other way. Shift age to the older years, and let the simulations run. You're much more likely to die of a disease rather than something external. Shift past 80 years, and it's over 40% chance the cause will be circulatory, regardless of demographic group.

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