Home Injuries Among Children: Research Fact Sheet

• Unintentional injury is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-15 in the United States.
• The home is the second most common location of fatal unintentional injuries.
• An average of 2,096 children younger than 15 die each year in the United States as a result of a home injury.
• An average of 3.4 million nonfatal home injuries are treated in hospital emergency departments each year among children less than 15 years of age.
• Fires and burns, choking and suffocation, and drowning and submersions are the leading causes of unintentional home injury death among children younger than 15 in the United States.
• The majority of unintentional home injuries do not result in death – for every one home injury death among a child younger than 15, there are nearly 1,500 nonfatal injuries.
• Children between 1 and 4 have the highest rates of nonfatal, unintentional home injury.
• Falls are the leading cause of nonfatal home injuries among children younger than 15, accounting for an average of 1.3 million injuries each year.
• Nonfatal home injuries as a result of being struck by, or striking against, objects or persons, and those caused by sharp objects are also leading causes of nonfatal unintentional home injury among children.

* State of Home Safety in America™ Report, 2nd Edition (2004)