This Visualizing Health Metrics infographic, based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015, provides information on mortality resulting from assault by firearms in the United States and globally from 1990 to 2015. The burden of firearms—excluding self-harm and accidental deaths—for the top 5 countries by GDP, global deaths per 100,000 people, the relationship of firearm death rates to Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles, and the distribution of firearm death rates by age within the United States are presented. Among countries ranked by total GDP in 2015, the United States had the highest number of deaths for both sexes combined in 2015; deaths by firearm assaults were more than 10 times higher than the combined number of deaths for the next 4 highest countries by GDP combined: China, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Framed by SDI—a composite measure of overall development based on estimates of per capita income, education level over age 15 years, and total fertility—rates of deaths by firearm assaults in the United States are higher than for all other countries grouped by SDI quintile with the exception of men in high-middle SDI countries. Within the United States, assault by firearms death rates in 2015 for both sexes combined peak in the 20-29 year age group.
Source: GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators. Lancet. 2016;388(10053):1459-1544.