The composition ribbon timeseries plot

Project
Data Visualization
What the explorer’s Composition tab is made of: twelve cause groups, age bands, cross-cutting groups, and the rare causes.
Author

Curtis Kephart

Published

Aug 15, 2026




Part of a century of American mortality in one data visualization. Play with the numbers in the interactive version, or read the companion notebooks on all causes and cause of death.

Every other notebook in this project draws a Lexis plot: a surface over age and calendar year, coloured by a rate or by its change. That answers “who was dying, and when”. It cannot answer “what were they dying of, and how did the mix change”, because a Lexis plot shows one cause at a time.

The Composition tab of the interactive explorer answers the second question. It is a stacked ribbon: one band per group, stacked, running left to right over calendar years. It gives up the age surface and gets the whole cause mix in exchange.

This notebook is the reference for it.

Reading a stacked ribbon

One band per group, stacked on top of each other, calendar year along the bottom. The height of a band in a given year is that group’s deaths in that year; the height of the whole stack is their sum.

Bands are stacked rather than drawn as separate lines because in most of the views the groups partition the deaths: each death is counted in exactly one band, so the stack is meaningful as a total and each band’s thickness is meaningful as a share. Where that is not true, the plot says so, and this notebook says which views those are.

Deaths or share

Deaths plots counts. Share divides by all deaths in the current filter.

The denominator is every death that year.

The ICD revision lines

Dashed vertical lines at 1968, 1979 and 1999. Cause of death is coded to a classification that is renumbered every ten to twenty years, and a step at one of those years is frequently the classification changing rather than mortality changing.

revision years
ICD-7 1959-1967
ICD-8 1968-1978
ICD-9 1979-1998
ICD-10 1999-2024

Stack by cause

The default view: twelve top-level cause groups and a residual, which between them account for every death in every year.

Ten of the twelve are one whole ICD chapter each. Cancer is the malignant part of the neoplasms chapter, C00-D09, rather than the whole of it. COVID-19 is a single code. “All other causes” is everything none of the twelve catch, and it exists so the arithmetic is exact: the twelve plus the residual equal all deaths, with nothing unaccounted for.

The twelve top-level groups and the residual, deaths per year.
Group ICD-10 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Cardiovascular I 899,426 993,172 954,289 784,422 922,386 61,519,377
Cancer C, D00-D09 260,570 416,481 549,848 574,767 619,950 31,278,090
Respiratory J 84,763 128,805 229,857 237,427 264,751 12,239,583
Nervous system G 14,651 21,591 84,077 141,105 277,631 5,437,577
Mental & behavioural F 4,397 14,018 42,122 120,819 131,354 3,529,249
Endocrine & metabolic E 33,641 46,354 92,869 98,890 171,953 5,184,349
Digestive K 64,181 75,179 82,869 91,310 128,496 5,563,270
Genitourinary N 30,069 29,078 53,126 65,675 76,810 3,064,874
Infectious A, B 22,447 17,282 59,982 67,581 67,894 2,992,892
COVID-19 U07.1 31,426 1,035,625
External causes V, W, X, Y 119,034 160,330 150,919 183,258 275,003 11,448,433
Ill-defined R 19,005 28,744 26,597 38,333 31,756 1,945,327
All other causes everything the twelve above do not catch 107,208 58,239 64,488 64,722 73,199 4,500,710

Opening a chapter

Underlined names in the legend can be clicked on and zoomed into.

Inside Cancer

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Lung cancer 1,959 34,393 103,838 152,154 158,317 128,760 7,790,787
Colorectal cancer 1,959 38,530 53,263 57,155 52,621 55,897 3,421,165
Pancreatic cancer 1,959 13,340 21,319 29,081 36,888 51,326 1,841,380
Breast cancer 1,959 23,106 35,896 41,528 41,435 43,897 2,493,220
Prostate cancer 1,959 14,045 22,880 31,728 28,560 34,815 1,717,379
Liver cancer 1,979 5,617 12,382 20,304 30,532 732,136
Brain cancer 1,979 9,037 12,484 13,925 18,024 600,696
Bladder cancer 1,959 7,648 9,815 11,910 14,730 17,396 769,323
Oesophageal cancer 1,959 4,833 7,985 11,917 14,490 16,274 684,239
Leukemia 1,959 12,291 16,533 21,014 22,569 23,740 1,232,999
Lymphoma 1,959 9,683 14,824 24,205 21,525 20,601 1,203,367
Cancer, site unspecified 1,999 28,462 25,541 32,203 711,881

Inside Cardiovascular

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Heart disease 1,959 641,841 760,938 725,145 597,661 683,476 46,262,314
Stroke 1,959 191,578 170,207 167,364 129,474 166,851 10,924,228

Inside Respiratory

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Influenza only 1,959 2,852 2,702 1,665 500 6,512 188,855
Pneumonia only 1,959 52,284 51,902 62,063 49,595 41,626 3,888,663
Chronic lower respiratory 1,979 56,044 124,177 138,076 145,643 5,303,761
Interstitial lung disease 1,999 11,358 16,261 22,849 444,566
Aspiration pneumonitis 1,979 3,355 15,268 17,011 19,023 615,248

Inside Infectious

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Sepsis 1,968 9,435 30,680 34,811 40,057 1,366,830
HIV/AIDS 1,987 14,801 8,369 4,589 553,926

Inside Endocrine & metabolic

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Diabetes 1,959 28,153 34,846 68,396 69,071 94,445 3,675,125

Inside Digestive

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Alcoholic liver disease 1,959 19,280 30,568 26,257 31,902 52,272 2,042,543

Inside Genitourinary

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Chronic kidney disease 1,999 13,992 20,501 38,138 668,389

Inside External causes

Cause From 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Motor vehicle 1,959 37,966 53,146 45,890 37,233 44,712 3,024,194
Suicide 1,959 18,664 26,852 29,350 38,665 49,327 2,098,166
Homicide 1,959 8,147 23,892 16,700 15,991 19,742 1,216,758

Two chapters are deliberately not openable. Firearms and drug poisoning both cut across intent, so putting them inside External causes alongside suicide and homicide would count a firearm suicide twice. They have their own entries under Cross-cutting instead, where overlap is handled by showing one group at a time.

Stack by age

The same plot with age groups instead of causes, using every death rather than any particular cause. Three binnings:

  • Decade, ten-year bands.
  • 20 years, twenty-year bands.
  • Generation, Pew’s named generations.

The generation view is the one worth pausing on. A generation is a band of birth years, not of ages, so the ages it covers move up by one every calendar year.

Deaths by ten-year age band. The explorer also offers twenty-year bands and generations.
Band 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024
0-9 138,644 58,788 36,660 31,232 26,425
10-19 19,377 26,347 17,899 13,836 14,814
20-29 27,508 54,026 34,581 38,927 42,078
30-39 48,345 50,164 60,167 50,008 77,336
40-49 104,380 82,549 120,572 115,590 118,684
50-59 202,956 209,386 189,738 249,599 231,610
60-69 340,242 382,442 320,790 360,803 507,849
70-79 425,472 513,955 604,254 490,537 742,525
80-89 292,988 459,600 691,144 731,740 818,208
90+ 59,480 152,016 315,238 386,037 493,080

Stack by cross-cutting

Several groups that the ICD files under several different headings. Only one is shown at a time since these groups may overlap each other. For example, a firearm suicide is in Firearms, in Suicide and in External causes at once, so stacking two of them together would count it twice.

Deaths of despair

From 1979. Parent: Deaths of despair.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Deaths of despair (whole group) 60,847 69,260 103,594 176,567 4,471,971
Suicide 26,852 29,350 38,665 49,327 1,638,944
Drug poisoning, unintentional 2,491 11,146 30,002 72,690 1,231,456
Drug poisoning, undetermined 892 2,467 2,963 2,134 107,795
Alcoholic liver disease 30,568 26,257 31,902 52,272 1,490,228

Remainder never negative across 46 years; smallest is 27.

External causes, by intent

From 1968. Parent: External causes.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
External causes (whole group) 160,330 150,919 183,258 275,003 10,262,865
Unintentional injury 105,615 96,380 119,131 194,451 6,814,086
Suicide 26,852 29,350 38,665 49,327 1,915,840
Homicide 23,892 16,700 15,991 19,742 1,128,064
Undetermined intent 3,638 3,859 4,844 4,351 245,639
Legal intervention & war 333 399 412 840 24,251

Remainder never negative across 57 years; smallest is 0.

Firearms, by intent

From 1979. Parent: Firearms.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Firearms (whole group) 33,469 28,854 31,665 44,445 1,606,959
Firearm suicide 15,401 16,594 19,390 27,592 893,833
Firearm homicide 15,486 10,813 11,073 15,364 639,277
Firearm accident 1,954 824 606 450 45,423
Firearm undetermined 628 324 252 403 17,012

Remainder never negative across 46 years; smallest is 0.

Suicide, by method

From 1979. Parent: Suicide.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Suicide (whole group) 26,852 29,350 38,665 49,327 1,638,944
Firearm suicide 15,401 16,594 19,390 27,592 893,833
Suicide by suffocation 3,683 5,423 9,490 11,451 343,629
Drug poisoning, suicide 3,035 3,180 5,298 4,409 183,071

Remainder never negative across 46 years; smallest is 4,031.

Homicide, by method

From 1979. Parent: Homicide.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Homicide (whole group) 23,892 16,700 15,991 19,742 923,477
Firearm homicide 15,486 10,813 11,073 15,364 639,277
Homicide by sharp object 4,337 1,875 1,798 1,694 121,434

Remainder never negative across 46 years; smallest is 2,684.

Drug poisoning, by intent

From 1979. Parent: Drug poisoning.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Drug poisoning (whole group) 6,462 16,833 38,325 79,377 1,525,870
Drug poisoning, unintentional 2,491 11,146 30,002 72,690 1,231,456
Drug poisoning, suicide 3,035 3,180 5,298 4,409 183,071
Drug poisoning, undetermined 892 2,467 2,963 2,134 107,795
Drug poisoning, homicide 44 40 62 144 3,548

Remainder never negative across 46 years; smallest is 0.

Motor vehicle

From 1959. Parent: Motor vehicle.

Cause 1959 1980 1999 2010 2024 Total
Motor vehicle (whole group) 37,966 53,146 45,890 37,233 44,712 3,024,194

Deaths of despair only begins in 1979 because drug poisoning needs ICD-9 sub-codes, while suicide and alcoholic liver disease run from 1959: drawing those two alone in 1960 would look like the group existed and was small, when it is not defined there at all. The intent split has no ICD-7 form, so 1959 to 1967 would otherwise draw as one solid remainder band and read as a finding rather than as an absence.

Rare and unusual causes

How finely these deaths can be split depends on how the ICD codes logged with each death.

revision years depth on external causes
ICD-8 1968-1978 3 digits only, for example, E905 is every venomous animal and E906 is every other animal
ICD-9 1979-1998 4 digits, with E905.0 is snakes and E906.0 is dogs
ICD-10 1999-2024 3 characters for the W, X and Y blocks; 4 for V

Every group carries one start year, the latest any of its members needs. A member that could start earlier is still held back to the group’s year, because a stack whose bands begin in different years draws a step that reads as a finding rather than as an absence.

The nine rare-cause groups. ‘Per year’ is over the group’s own span.
Group From Members Deaths, whole span Per year
Animals & venom 1,979 7 9,301 202
Forces of nature 1,979 5 66,121 1,437
Boats, planes & other travel 1,979 7 97,926 2,129
Aircraft, by type 1,999 9 13,505 519
Boats, by type 1,999 9 12,916 497
Freak accidents 1,979 6 121,849 2,649
Falls from odd places 1,999 8 42,502 1,635
Terrorism, war & legal intervention 1,999 3 16,666 641
Old and exotic infections 1,979 11 77,618 1,687

Where a series has a published counterpart it is noted under its group. Some match to the death, some are close for a reason worth naming, and one fails outright.

Animals & venom

From 1979. Bites, stings and being struck by an animal, plus the few deaths from plants: thorns and spines, and the venomous ones, which ride along in the last band. The species detail people expect is not in these files: ICD-10 codes W53-W60 at three characters, so W55 covers horses, cattle, bears and raccoons alike, and W56 covers every marine animal including sharks. Before 1979 there is one code for all venomous animals and one for all others, which is why the group starts there.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Checked against published figures

  • Hornets, wasps & bees. 1,109 deaths across 2000-2017 against a published 1,109. Same lowest year, same highest year, same male share. (CDC, MMWR QuickStats, 2019)
  • Dogs. 35 in 2018 and 81 in 2021, matching published counts exactly, sex split included. (CDC WONDER, via DogsBite.org)

Forces of nature

From 1979. Weather and geology. Heat and cold dominate and both are strongly seasonal, so single years swing hard. Storms and floods share one ICD-9 code and so are shown together; earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides share another.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Checked against published figures

  • Lightning. 17 in 2020 against the National Weather Service’s 17. In 2019 and 2021 this runs higher, 30 against 22 and 15 against 11. The Weather Service counts storm reports; a certificate can be written weeks after the strike. (NWS lightning fatalities)

Boats, planes & other travel

From 1979. Everything that moves except the car. Road deaths are three orders of magnitude larger and are in the External causes group instead. ‘Drowning from a boat’ is the boat capsizing or the person going overboard; ‘other boat injury’ is fire, machinery and falls aboard.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Checked against published figures

  • Aircraft. The air bands come to 441 in 2019 against 452 civil aviation fatalities, 2.4% apart. The NTSB counts foreign nationals killed in US accidents; this does not. (NTSB aviation statistics, 2019)
  • Drowning from a boat. The water bands come to 456 in 2022 against 636 recreational boating deaths. The gap is a coding boundary: a fall from a boat is frequently certified as a drowning, W65 to W74, which is not in this group. (US Coast Guard, Recreational Boating Statistics 2022)

Aircraft, by type

From 1999. What was being flown. Three quarters of the deaths are in the unspecified band, which is what the certificate says when it names no aircraft, so read the named bands as a floor. Spacecraft holds a single death, coded in 2000. Neither shuttle crew is in these files at all: no spacecraft code appears in 2003, and the whole ICD-9 era carries four such deaths, none of them in 1986. These are registered death certificates rather than deaths, and a federal mass-casualty investigation is exactly the kind of event that can miss a state register.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Checked against published figures

  • Commercial fixed-wing. Near zero in most years, and the exceptions name themselves: 248 in 2001 (American Airlines 587, 265 aboard), 53 in 2000 (Alaska 261, 88 aboard), 47 in 2009 (Colgan 3407, 50 aboard). (NTSB aviation statistics)
  • Spacecraft. One death, coded in 2000. Validation fails here. Neither shuttle crew is in these files: no spacecraft code in 2003, and four in the whole ICD-9 era, none of them in 1986. (checked against these files directly)

Boats, by type

From 1999. What was being sailed. The vessel is the fourth character of V90 to V93, so drowning after a capsize, drowning without one, and injury aboard all carry it and are summed here. Canoes and kayaks kill more people than fishing boats, sailboats and passenger ships together. As with aircraft, the unspecified band is the largest and the named ones are floors.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Freak accidents

From 1979. Mechanical and environmental accidents that are neither transport, fall, fire, drowning nor poisoning. Machinery steps down about a third at 1999, which is a coding change on top of a real decline: ICD-9 has one machinery code and ICD-10 has eight, and they do not cover the same ground.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Falls from odd places

From 1999. Falls where the certificate names what was fallen from. ICD-9 has no code for falling out of a tree and lumps cliffs in with furniture, so the group is ICD-10 only. Falls on the level and falls on stairs are far larger and are not here.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Old and exotic infections

From 1979. Infections that were once ordinary killers, or that are famous and vanishingly rare. Leptospirosis is the one spread by rat urine. Plague is still present in the American southwest. Rabies runs at one or two deaths a year.

Click any row to see the ICD codes behind it.

Sources

what source
Hornets, wasps and bees, 2000-2017 CDC, MMWR QuickStats, July 2019
Dog bite deaths by year and sex CDC WONDER, compiled by DogsBite.org
Lightning fatalities by year National Weather Service
Civil aviation fatalities, 2019 NTSB annual summary
Recreational boating deaths, 2022 US Coast Guard, COMDTPUB P16754.36
Police shootings, 2023 Washington Post police shootings database