Statistics

Estate planning and sudden death statistics

How few people have a will, how much money goes unclaimed and how often death comes without warning. Every figure links to its source.

Figures checked against each source on November 12, 2026.

• 32%of US adults have a will that says what happens to their belongings.Pew Research Center, 2025
• $17 billionin life insurance and annuities matched to families since 2016 through one free state search.NAIC, 2026
• $4.25 billionin unclaimed money and property returned to owners by US states in one year.NAUPA, 2025
• 350,000+cardiac arrests happen outside US hospitals each year, most often at home.American Heart Association, yearly estimate
• 1 in 7About 1 in 7 people in the US have unclaimed money or property waiting for them.NAUPA, 2025

Someone in the US dies from an unintentional injury, such as a fall or a crash, about every 3 minutes. From 197,449 deaths in 2024 (CDC).