Indiana Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver presented the annual child fatality report to the Child Services Interim Study Committee at the Statehouse Tuesday, highlighting the causes of injury-related deaths among Indiana children and efforts to prevent them.
Weaver says injury is the No. 1 cause of death among children nationally and in Indiana.
He says 1,629 Indiana children ages 0 through 17 died from external injuries between 2021 and 2025.
The number of deaths in 2025 decreased by 100 compared with 2021.
Of those deaths, Weaver says sudden unexpected infant deaths, or SUIDs, were the leading cause of external injury death, with 455 deaths.
She says transportation accidents and homicides followed.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for kids 1-17 in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
There were 309 firearm-related deaths among Indiana residents.
87% of firearm-related deaths occurred via suicide or homicide, and 8% were unintentional.