If You Could See Your Death, Would You Want To?

Something I put together around 2002, and edited a little bit here and there.

Causes of Death Worldwide Annual Number of Deaths (mostly 1999 stats)

ischematic heart disease                                       6,200,000
drinking water born diseases                                3,000,000 to 5,000,000 estimated
cerebrovascular disease (stroke)                           4,300,000
acute lower respiratory infections                         2,900,000
HIV/AIDS                                                            1,900,000
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease                  1,900,000
diarrheal diseases                                                   1,860,000 3,000,000 (children)
perinatal conditions                                                1,800,000
tuberculosis                                                            1,270,000
cancer of trachea, bronchus & lung                1,045,000
motor vehicle accidents                                          1,000,000 1,200,000 (WHO estimate in 2004)
mosquitos (mostly malaria)                                     1,000,000
chagas (kissing bug, Central & South America)       120,000 (WHO estimate in 2004)
snakes                                                                       100,000
bees/wasps                                                                  10,000
crocodiles/alligators                                                      2,000
airline accidents (1980-2000 annual avg.)                       726
malaria (Kenya children only)                                         600
scorpions                                                                         500
hippopotamus                                                                 100~200
elephants (Asian = 130, African = 5)                             135
the big cats                                                                       80
SARS (China, as of Apr 20, 2003)                                  79
cone snail                                                                         70
jelly fish                                                                           55
killer bees (Africanized honey bee) in North America    50
hyena                                                                               50
sharks                                                                                8
bears                                                                                  6
funnel web spider (Australia: 12 deaths/80 yrs)                 0.15
Canadian cougars (8 deaths/100 yrs)                                 0.08







Causes of Death U.S. Annual Number of Deaths rate info

abortion (1996) 1,365,730 dropping
..................................................(due to rape: 13,000)
heart disease (1999) 725,192
cancer (1999) 549,838
stroke (1999) 167,366
chronic lower respiratory dis.(1999) 124,181
accidents (including motor vehicles) (1999) 97,860
diabetes mellitus (1999) 68,399
influenza & pneumonia (1999) 63,730
alzheimer's (1999) 44,536
motor vehicle accidents(1999 = 2000) 43,000 fluctuates 40K~45K
.......... (assuming an average speed of 30 mph) 2.9 million vehicle-hrs/dth
.......... ("motor vehicle" miles / car & light truck deaths) 86.8 million miles/dth

............. ----- separated by category ----
............. collision between vehicles 2000 20,000
............. collision w/ fixed object 2000 11,200
............. collision w/ pedestrian 2000 5,300
............. non-collision accident 2000 4,600
............. collision w/ pedalcycle 2000 800
............. collision w/ train 2000 400
............. collision w/ animal,Amish 2000 100

............. ----- other stats -----
............. just SUV rollovers 2002 10,000
............. 6% of deaths due to drivers on cell phones 2,600
............. deaths due to sleeping at the wheel 1,500
............. deaths that seat belts could prevent 10,000

............. ----- put it in perspective -----
............. occupants of passenger vehicles killed by large trucks 3,584 (2002)
............. occupants of large trucks killed by passenger vehicles 73 (2002)

............. occupants of other vehicles killed by motorcycle collision 17 (1994)
............. motorcyclists killed by collision with other vehicles 1113 (1994)
............. all motorcyclists killed 2000 fluctuates

............. children deaths from being locked in hot cars 42 (2003)
............. children backed over by passenger vehicle 72 (2003)

............. all pedestrian deaths due to being backed over 120 (1998)
.......................... work vehicles only 26 (1998)
.......................... non-work vehicles 94 (1998)
.......................... children by non-work vehicle 63 (1998)
.......................... children at home by relative 55 (1998)
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

nephritis, nephrosis, nephrotic syndrome (2000) 37,672
influenza (2002) 36,000
kidney disease (1999) 35,535
blood poisoning (1999) 30,680
suicide, total (2000) 28,332
all home accidents (1999) 28,200
chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (2000) 26,219
hypertension and hypertensive renal disease (2000) 17,964
suicide by firearm (1998) 17,424
AIDS (1999) 16,767 dropping
pneumonitis due to solids and liquids (2000) 16,659
accidents, falls (1999) 16,000
homicide (2000) 15,478 dropping
homicide by firearms (1998) 11,798
accidents, poison solids & liquids (1999) 11,000
accidents, drug/medicine poisoning (1998) 9,838
home accidents, falls (1999) 8,800
home accidents, poison solids & liq. (1999) 8,700
accidents, drowning (1999) 4,000
complications after medical procedures (1998) 3,228
accidents, fires & burns (1999) 3,100
accidents, ingestion of food & objects (1999) 3,100
home accidents, fires & burns (1999) 2,700
home accidents, suffocation by ingesting object (1999) 1,400
accidents, motor vehicle, non-traffic related (1998) 1,310
home accidents, suffocation mechanical (1999) 900
accidents, firearms (1998) 866
accidents, water transport (1998) 692
accidents, electrical (1998) 548
accidents, railway (1998) 515 dropping
home accidents, firearms (1999) 500 dropping 100 per year
accidents, poison gases (1999) 400
home accidents, poison gases (1999) 300 dropping
West Nile virus (2002) 200
weather - floods, flash and river (30 year annual average) 139
airline accidents (1980-2000 annual avg.) 100 fluctuates a lot
.................... between 1 billion and 56 billion passenger miles/dth
weather - lightning (30 year annual average) 87
.................... 28.4 billion person-hrs/dth (about 3.24 million years)
.................... (assuming 282 million people, 24 hours/day & 365 days/yr
weather - extreme temperatures (1994) 81
weather - tornado (30 year annual average) 82
weather - winter (1994) 31
weather - hurricane (30 year annual average) 27
execution by civil auth. (25 yr avg) 27
dog bite (of 4.7 million bites/yr) 17
weather - thunder storm - wind (1994) 17
suicides by leap from Golden Gate Bridge 15
snake bite (of approx. 7000 bites) 15
weather - other high wind (1994) 12
weather - fog (1994) 3
rabies 3
Florida crocs and alligators (12 deaths/50 yrs) 0.24




Most of the data here was retrieved from The 2002 World Almanac and The 2003 Time Almanac, whose sources are the Department of Transportation, World Health Organization, etc. Some data came from The Bureau of Transportation Statitics, TV news broadcasts, educational TV, such as The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, The Learning Channel or PBS. Weather related death statistics came from http://www.lightningsafety.com

Even though this data is often a couple years old, it is a good representative of the relative balance of the causes of death. However, in some cases, the fluctuations from year to year are so great that an average is used. Obvious trends, upward or downward, are noted on the right. Many raw numbers are fluctuating, usually meaning the percentage is dropping, because the population is always growing.