Adolescent Health

Health status

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years who are in excellent or very good health: 81.6%

Source: Summary Health Statistics Tables for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2015, Table C-5c [PDF – 106 KB]

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years who missed 11 or more days of school in the past 12 months because of illness or injury: 5.3%

Source: Summary Health Statistics Tables for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2015, Table C-6c [PDF – 141 KB]

Obesity

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–19 years who are obese: 20.6% (2013-2014)

Source: Health, United States, 2016, table 53 [PDF – 9.8 MB]

Smoking and alcohol use

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years who smoked cigarettes in the past month: 4.2% (2015)
• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years who used alcohol in the past month: 9.6% (2015)

Source: Health, United States, 2016, table 50 [PDF – 9.8 MB]

Access to health care

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years with no usual source of health care: 5.8%

Source: Summary Health Statistics Tables for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2015, Table C-7c [PDF – 178 KB]

• Percent of adolescents aged 12–17 years without health insurance: 6.1%

Source: Summary Health Statistics Tables for the U.S. Population: National Health Interview Survey, 2015, Table P-11c [PDF – 606 KB]

Mortality

• Number of deaths for adolescents aged 15–19 years: 9,586
• Deaths per 100,000 population for adolescents aged 15–19 years: 45.5

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2014, table 3 [PDF – 4.4 MB]

Leading causes of death

Leading causes of deaths among adolescents aged 15–19 years:

• Accidents (unintentional injuries)
• Suicide
• Homicide

Source: Deaths: Leading Causes for 2014, table 1 [PDF – 3.5 MB]