What’s Killing Young People and How We Can Solve It

Young people are often overlooked in discussions about death and dying. While the youth mortality rate has been in decline on the whole, rarely is a single trend the whole story.

In October 2021, a sprawling data analysis was published in The Lancet examining mortality rates among young people from 204 countries, split up by age groups (10-14 years, 15-19 years, and 20-24 years) and sex.

The study found that despite the overall decline in mortality rates, the gap between young boys and girls has widened. The death rate for males aged 10-24 group has only gone down 15%, compared to a 30% decline in young people on the whole. In 2019, young men made up 61% of all deaths in this age group.

Joseph Ward, one of the authors of the research, told the Guardian: “High numbers of deaths in males indicate increases in the proportion of deaths due to violence, trauma and substance misuse, which predominately affect young males. This reflects a failure to address some of the leading causes of mortality in this age group.”

Globally, adolescent women’s mortality rates have improved considerably over the last 70 years, especially in comparison to adolescent men aged 10-24.

The youth mortality divide between the best-performing countries and worst-performing countries also grew over time due to inequalities exacerbated by what the authors call “a failure by policymakers to adequately address global health risks during adolescence.”

Researchers saw the greatest relative reductions in mortality over time in adolescent girls in high-income countries, whereas males aged 20-24, particularly in sub-Saharan countries, struggled to make similar improvements.

The authors note that many of these deaths are preventable. Overall, a third of fatalities in young people arose from accidents, injuries or conflicts, and violence.  Infections, poor nutrition, or pregnancy accounted for another third of deaths. The rest were caused by non-communicable diseases such as cancer or by suicide.

While adolescence is typically seen as a “healthy” period of life,  policymakers shouldn’t neglect younger people when creating public health programs. By focusing on young people, the researchers believe interventions will pay a “tripled dividend.” Interventions help the young people themselves, hels the adults they will become, and perhaps most importantly, it will help the children they will eventually raise.

The research does not presume to have a blanket answer for interventions in adolescent death rates. The authors state that individual countries will have to look at the data and decide what concerns their youth the most. Ward identifies the United Nation’s effort to reduce global poverty as an effective model that improved health outcomes for young children through an array of programs.

The authors write that renewed emphasis and investment in young people will build on the improvements seen in young children and chart a promising trajectory for the next generation of adults.