The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Department of Public Health
Registry of Vital Records and Statistics
150 Mt. Vernon Street, 1st Floor
MAURA T. HEALEY Dorchester, MA 02125 KATHLEEN E. WALSH
Governor Secretary
KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL ROBERT GOLDSTEIN, MD, PhD
Lieutenant Governor Commissioner
Tel: 617-740-2600
www.mass.gov/dph/rvrs
December 19th, 2024
Steven T. James
House Clerk
State House Room 145
Boston, MA 02133
Michael D. Hurley
Senate Clerk
State House Room 335
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Mr. Clerk,
Pursuant to Section 2 of Chapter 111 of the Massachusetts General Laws, please find enclosed a report
from the Department of Public Health entitled Massachusetts Deaths 2022.
Sincerely,
Robert Goldstein
Commissioner
Department of Public Health
Massachusetts Deaths
2022
November 2024
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 Article I. Legislative Mandate
The following report is hereby issued pursuant to Section 2 of Chapter 111 of the
Massachusetts General Laws as follows:
Chapter 111: Section 2. Annual report (specific text bolded below)
The commissioner shall administer the laws relative to health and sanitation and the regulations
of the department, and shall prepare rules and regulations for the consideration of the council.
The secretary of elder affairs and the commissioner shall jointly develop and submit to the
council rules and regulations governing the licensure and operation of convalescent or nursing
homes, rest homes, infirmaries maintained in a town and charitable homes for the aged. He
may direct any executive officer or employee of the department to assist in the study,
suppression or prevention of disease in any part of the commonwealth. He shall submit annually
to the council a report containing recommendations in regard to health legislation.
The commissioner shall prepare from the birth, marriage and death records received by
him under the provisions of chapter forty-six, and from the divorce returns received by him
under the provisions of section forty-six of chapter two hundred and eight, such statistical
tables as he deems useful, and shall make annual report thereof to the general court. The
commissioner may transmit such information to the appropriate agency of the federal
government to participate in the development of a cooperative system for producing uniform
statistical information at the federal, state and local level. The commissioner may make further
use of such records as he deems useful for administrative and research purposes connected
with health programs and population studies. He shall, as soon as is reasonably practicable,
cause the birth, marriage and death records to be bound with indexes thereto and shall retain
their custody. He shall prepare an alphabetical index of such divorce returns showing the names
of the parties, year and number of the judgment and the county in which the divorce occurred.
Prior to undertaking any activity or implementing any policy which would affect expenditures for
medical assistance under chapter one hundred and eighteen E, including but not limited to the
certification and licensure of providers of services under said chapter, the commissioner shall
assure that such activity is reviewed by the commissioner of medical assistance.
The commissioner shall consult with the commissioner of mental health prior to taking an action
substantially affecting the design and implementation of behavioral health services for children
under guidelines established by the secretary of health and human services under section 16S
of chapter 6A.
The commissioner, subject to the approval of the governor, may make such rules and
regulations governing the conduct of written and oral examinations by the several boards of
registration and examination under the department as shall be necessary to standardize
procedures and protect the commonwealth and applicants for registration against fraud. Nothing
in this section shall prevent a board from adopting, under authority of other provisions of law,
specific rules and regulations that are not in conflict with the rules and regulations authorized by
this section.
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 Massachusetts Deaths 2022
60%
Infectious
Disease
50%
Percent of Total Deaths
Heart Disease
40%
30%
Cancer
20%
10%
Injuries
0%
1871
1915
1959
1843
1847
1851
1855
1859
1863
1867
1875
1879
1883
1887
1891
1895
1899
1903
1907
1911
1919
1923
1927
1931
1935
1939
1943
1947
1951
1955
1963
1967
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
Year
Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to: Karin Barrett, Registrar; Dean DiMartino, Deputy Registrar; Sharon Pagnano,
Director of Statistics; Marsha Grabau, Darien Mather, and Ollie Nusbaum; Registry of Vital Records and
Statistics.
The Registry of Vital Records and Statistics staff, including Michael Baker, Pamela Corbin, Alex Forman,
Denise O'Gara, Margaret Riley, Jennifer Smith, Monica Smith, and Maria Vu, worked to collect the data in
this report.
To obtain more information on deaths in Massachusetts and other Department of Public Health data,
please visit the Department’s free, Internet-based public health information reports at:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deaths-of-massachusetts-residents.
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Article I. Legislative Mandate ...................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 8
Selected Takeaways ................................................................................................................... 9
Note to Readers ........................................................................................................................ 12
Table 1. Trends in Mortality Characteristics, Massachusetts: 2012-2022 .................................. 13
Figure 1. Trends in Percentage of Deaths from Selected Causes, Massachusetts: 1843-2022 . 14
Figure 2. Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 1900-2022 15
Table 2. Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity and Gender, Massachusetts:
2012-2022................................................................................................................................. 15
Figure 3. Changes in Age Composition of the Population, Massachusetts: 1900-2020 ............. 16
Table 3. Distribution of Deaths by Place of Occurrence, Massachusetts: 2018-2022 ................ 17
Figure 4. Manner of Death Among Massachusetts Occurrence Deaths Certified by the Medical
Examiner, 2022 ......................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 5. Age-Adjusted Mortality Rate for COVID-19 and All Other Causes by Race and
Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 .................................................................................. 19
Figure 6. Premature Mortality Rate (PMR) for COVID-19 and All Other Causes by Race and
Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 .................................................................................. 19
Figure 7. Daily Mortality Statistics, Massachusetts: 2022 .......................................................... 20
Table 4. Top Ten Leading Underlying Causes of Death by Age, Massachusetts: 2022 ............. 21
Table 5. Trends in Infant, Neonatal, and Post Neonatal Mortality, by Race and Hispanic
Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2012-2022 ........................................................................................ 22
Figure 8. Infant Mortality Rates by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2002-2022 ... 23
Table 6. Infant, Neonatal, and Post Neonatal Deaths by Cause, Massachusetts: 2022............. 24
Table 7. Infant Deaths by Major Causes, Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 .. 25
Table 8. Leading Underlying Causes of Death, Numbers and Age-Specific Rates by Gender,
Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................................................................................ 26
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Table 9. Leading Underlying Causes of Death and Age-Adjusted Rates by Race and Hispanic
Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................................................................. 27
Figure 9. Selected Causes of Death by Age Group and Gender, Massachusetts: 2022 ............ 28
Table 10. Number and Age-Adjusted Rates of Cancer Deaths by Selected Causes and Gender,
Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................................................................................ 29
Table 11. Selected Causes of Cancer Deaths by Age, Massachusetts: 2022 ........................... 30
Table 12. Leading Causes of Cancer Deaths and Age-Adjusted Rates by Race and Hispanic
Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................................................................. 31
Figure 10. Diabetes Deaths, Massachusetts: 2012-2022........................................................... 32
Table 13. Diabetes Deaths by Gender, Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................... 32
Table 14. Diabetes Deaths by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 ................... 33
Figure 11. Age Distribution of Diabetes Deaths, Massachusetts: 2022 ..................................... 33
Figure 12. Diabetes Death Rates, Massachusetts: 2002-2022 .................................................. 34
Table 15. COVID-19 Deaths by Gender, Massachusetts: 2022................................................. 35
Table 16. COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 ................ 35
Figure 13. COVID-19 Age-Specific Death Rates by Race/Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2020-2022
................................................................................................................................................. 36
Table 17. Injury Deaths by Method, Gender, and Age: Numbers, Age-Adjusted, and Age-
Specific Rates, Massachusetts: 2022........................................................................................ 37
Table 18. Injury Deaths by Method, Gender, and Race and Hispanic Ethnicity: Numbers and
Age-Adjusted Rates, Massachusetts: 2022 ............................................................................... 38
Table 19. Injury Deaths by Intent, Gender, and Age: Numbers, Age-Adjusted, and Age-Specific
Rates, Massachusetts: 2022 ..................................................................................................... 39
Table 20. Injury Deaths by Intent, Gender, and Race and Hispanic Ethnicity: Numbers and Age-
Adjusted Rates, Massachusetts: 2022 ...................................................................................... 40
Table 21. Injury Deaths by Intent, Method and Gender: Numbers and Age-Adjusted Rates,
Massachusetts: 2022 ................................................................................................................ 41
Table 22. HIV/AIDS Deaths by Gender, Race, and Hispanic Ethnicity: Numbers, Percent and
Age-Adjusted Rates, Massachusetts: 2012-2022 ...................................................................... 42
Figure 14. HIV/AIDS Deaths by Age, Massachusetts: 2002-2022 ............................................. 43
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Table 23. Number and Age-Specific Rates for Leading Underlying Causes of Death by Race
and Hispanic Ethnicity, Massachusetts: 2022 ........................................................................... 44
Table 24. Selected Causes of Death by Community, Massachusetts: 2022 .............................. 45
Table 25. Premature Mortality1 Rates by County, Massachusetts: 2022 ................................... 52
Table 26. Selected Causes of Death by County, Massachusetts: 2022 ..................................... 53
APPENDIX................................................................................................................................ 54
TECHNICAL NOTES ................................................................................................................ 55
RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA ................................................................................................. 55
DATA SOURCES ...................................................................................................................... 56
CHANGES TO MORTALITY DATA, EFFECTIVE 1999 ............................................................ 56
POPULATION ESTIMATES ...................................................................................................... 56
APPLYING COMPARABILITY RATIOS TO EXAMINE TRENDS IN MORTALITY .................... 57
GLOSSARY .............................................................................................................................. 58
Table A1. ICD-10 and ICD-9 Codes Used in this Publication and Comparability Ratios ............ 62
Table A2. Preliminary Comparability Ratios: Causes of Infant Death ........................................ 64
Table A3. Population Estimates for Massachusetts Communities, 2020 ................................... 65
Table A4. 2020 Massachusetts Population Estimates By Age Group, Gender, Race and
Hispanic Ethnicity (mutually exclusive) ...................................................................................... 68
Massachusetts Death Certificate ............................................................................................... 69
Circumstance for Referral to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) ....................... 71
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 Executive Summary
At the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, we touch the lives of Commonwealth residents at
critical moments: when they are born, get married or divorced, and when they die. Public health
is about protecting and promoting the health of the public, and while some may argue that death
is too late of an endpoint for intervention, information about mortality is vital to our health
promotion and protection efforts. We hope that the information in this report helps inform us of
our successes to date in those efforts and maps out where additional efforts are needed.
Four years after COVID-19 first arrived in Massachusetts leading to the highest number of
deaths of Massachusetts’ residents recorded in the Commonwealth’s history, we continue our
prevention efforts and monitoring of the impact of the pandemic on our communities. In 2022,
COVID-19 mortality decreased, but was still the 4th leading cause of death, with more than
3,200 residents lost to the disease. Preliminary 2023 data show COVID-19 deaths decreased to
just over 1,000 deaths among Commonwealth residents, similar to the impact of influenza and
pneumonia, indicating prevention and treatment efforts have advanced significantly since the
first wave of infections.
Despite this reduction, the data are clear: the impact of COVID-19 is more than tallying up
deaths directly due to the disease. When we compare non-COVID-19 mortality