Mexico Accidental Injury Trends: 39,919 Deaths and Rising Heat

Storm damage in Acapulco's hotel zone the day after Hurricane Otis
Damage in Acapulco’s hotel zone on 25 October 2023, the day after Hurricane Otis struck as a category 5 storm. Photo: WendyAvilesR via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Steady toll, new hazardsUpdated 24 October 2026

Trend summary

  • Mexico registered 39,919 accidental deaths in 2024, the fifth leading cause of death, up slightly from 39,553 in 2023. About 31,000 of them were men, according to INEGI death registrations.
  • Outside road crashes, the biggest killers are falls, drowning and other mechanical injuries. Global Burden of Disease estimates put non-transport accidental deaths at 21,549 in 2017, down from 24,719 in 1990.
  • Extreme heat is a fast-growing risk: the Ministry of Health counted 421 heat deaths in the 2023 season, mostly heat stroke, with Sonora and Nuevo León worst hit.
  • Big one-off events still dominate the headlines: Hurricane Otis (50 dead, 2023), the October 2025 floods (80 dead in four states), the Metro Line 12 collapse (26 dead, 2021) and two coal mine disasters in Coahuila.
39,919accidental deaths, 2024
421heat deaths, 2023 season
80deaths in October 2025 floods
26killed in Metro Line 12 collapse, 2021

What the numbers show

INEGI’s death registrations class every death by presumed intent. In 2024 Mexico registered 819,672 deaths in all; 39,919 were accidents (31,051 men and 8,828 women), making accidents the fifth cause of death overall, the fourth for men and the eighth for women. External causes (accidents, homicides and suicides) made up 10.4% of all deaths (INEGI, November 2025). In 2023 the figure was 39,553 accidental deaths, 47.5% of the 83,341 deaths from external causes (INEGI, August 2024). These totals include road deaths, which have their own page. INEGI’s press releases do not split the rest by type, so the best national breakdown comes from research: the Global Burden of Disease study estimated 42,702 unintentional injury deaths in Mexico in 2017, of which 21,549 were not transport-related, down from 24,719 in 1990. Age-standardised rates fell by about half, and falls, drowning, foreign bodies and exposure to mechanical forces had the highest death rates (Híjar et al., Injury Prevention, 2020).

Heat is now tracked every season. From mid-March to the first week of October 2023 the Ministry of Health counted 4,306 heat-related illnesses and 421 deaths: 393 from heat stroke and 28 from dehydration. Sonora (117), Nuevo León (102), Baja California (54), Tamaulipas (32) and Veracruz (31) had the most (Ministry of Health, SE 40 2023). The 2024 season was milder in Sonora, with 48 deaths against 121 in 2023, while national cases reached 3,986 by late September (Sonora Ministry of Health). Natural disasters add sudden spikes: Hurricane Otis killed 50 people in Guerrero in October 2023, with 30 missing (CNN en Español); Hurricane John killed 29 in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán in September 2024 (Meganoticias/EFE); and the October 2025 rains killed 80 people in Veracruz (35), Puebla (22), Hidalgo (22) and Querétaro (1), with 18 still missing (N+).

What is driving it

Heat and poverty interact. A study of Mexican death records from 1998 to 2017 found that suboptimal temperatures cause about 3.8% of deaths, roughly 26,000 a year, but most of these are linked to cold days, and temperatures are twice as likely to kill people in the poorer half of the population (Cohen and Dechezleprêtre, AEJ: Economic Policy, 2022). A newer study using humid-heat (wet-bulb) data found that people under 35 account for 75% of recent heat-related deaths in Mexico and 87% of heat-related years of life lost, and that climate change will shift the burden further towards the young (Wilson et al., Science Advances, 2024).

Infrastructure and industrial failures are a second theme. Mexico City’s prosecutors found that the Metro Line 12 overpass that fell on 3 May 2021, killing 26 and injuring 98, failed mainly because of construction errors, including too few and badly placed shear studs and poor welds (Mexico City Attorney General, October 2021). Coahuila’s small coal mines remain dangerous: ten miners died when El Pinabete flooded on 3 August 2022, and the last body was recovered only in February 2025 (Zeta Tijuana); at Pasta de Conchos, where 65 miners died in 2006, 25 bodies had been recovered and 38 were still in the mine in February 2026 (Vanguardia). Fuel theft also creates mass-casualty accidents: the Tlahuelilpan pipeline fire in Hidalgo in January 2019 killed 91 people within three days (Milenio).

Recent cases

  • 20 February 2026: President Claudia Sheinbaum presented a justice plan for Pasta de Conchos and said recovery work would continue until the end of her term; 25 miners have been recovered and 38 remain in the mine (Vanguardia).
  • 10 November 2025: INEGI’s final 2024 death figures showed 39,919 accidental deaths, the fifth cause of death nationally, out of 819,672 registered deaths (INEGI).
  • 16 October 2025: The federal government raised the death toll from heavy rains linked to tropical disturbance 90-E to 80, in Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo and Querétaro, with 18 people missing (N+).

Press releases and official reports, 2023–2026

Up to five key releases a year for the last four years, newest first. Most come from national bodies such as INEGI, the Ministry of Health, CENAPRED, the National Seismological Service, CONAFOR, the Navy, CONDUSEF and the Official Gazette, from Congress, from international agencies such as PAHO and WHO, and from research journals. Key events, especially in earlier years where official archives are missing, come from Mexican news outlets such as La Jornada, El Universal, Excélsior, El Financiero, Animal Político and Mexico News Daily. Headlines are our English translations of the Spanish originals. Releases from 2007–2022 are in the expandable list after 2023.

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View 20 years of major Mexican injury press releases (2007–2026)25 more from 2007–2022, up to five a year, newest first

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Many years list fewer than five items, and some have none yet. Several official archives (parts of gob.mx, the Official Gazette and older agency pages) could not be opened when we compiled this list, and we only list items we could open and check. We are still adding to these lists. Where a page shows no date, the date comes from the publisher’s own index; annual reports with no printed date are listed under the year they were released.

Photo list

Works on Mexico City Metro Line 12 in 2017
File photo: works on Mexico City Metro Line 12 in September 2017. An elevated section of the line collapsed under a train in May 2021, killing 26 people. Photo: Gobierno CDMX via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
Damaged buildings in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis
Damage in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis, photographed on 3 November 2023. Photo: Wotancito via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Related on ROR Labs

How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases and research linked above; where agencies publish provisional numbers we say so, because they are revised. National death data come from INEGI’s death registrations, which are finalised the year after; preliminary figures are labelled. Some figures come from news reports quoting officials, and we name the outlet. Money is given in Mexican pesos (MX$). Headlines and quotes are our translations from Spanish. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.