# Various causes of death--enumerating **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514 "2015-11-14T01:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/1 "2015-11-14T01:15:13Z")
I saw a meme on Facebook in which various diseases and their annual death tolls such as Ebola were listed, leading up to the number of people killed by policemen–1100, which was far higher than any of the others on the list. In a reply, I added: \*Automobiles–50,000 Fires–11,000 Drowning–about 3500 \* What I would like to know is : 1) Are my totals accurate and 2) are there other high annual death totals, not related to disease or criminal intent, that are close to auto accidents, fires, and drowning in terms of quantity? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/2 "2015-11-14T03:21:50Z")
Where? US auto deaths are around 30K/year. 4,250 worker deaths in 2014 due to job-related activities. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/3 "2015-11-14T04:11:42Z")
U. S. deaths, only, for simplicity’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/4 "2015-11-14T05:53:57Z")
The World Health Organization has a [Mortality Database](http://www.who.int/healthinfo/mortality_data/en/), where they list this info, based on statistics provided by their member nations (some more accurate than others). The top 10 are: (from 2012, latest full year) [ol] [li]heart disease, 7.4 million [/li][li]stroke, 6.7 million[/li][li]chronic obstructive lung disease, 3.1 million[/li][li]lower respiratory infections, 3.1 million[/li][li]trachea bronchus, lung cancer, 1.6 million[/li][li]HIV, 1.5 million [/li][li]Diarrhea 1.5 million[/li][li]Diabetes, 1.5 million[/li][li]Traffic accidents, 1.3 million[/li][li]Hypertension, 1.1 million[/li][/ol]Those 10 make up about 21 million of the 28 million deaths that year (3,200/hour). Note that smoking tobacco is related to 1-5 and 10 on that list. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/5 "2015-11-14T06:34:48Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Where? > US auto deaths are around 30K/year. But they were about 50,000 for several years. It looks like the OP found an accurate but outdated list somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/6 "2015-11-14T06:41:59Z")
Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,979 [(US 2013)](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm) Unintentional poisoning 38,851[(US 2013)](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm) Unintentional fall deaths 30,208 (US 2013 same as above cite) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/7 "2015-11-14T07:33:01Z")
I thank those who have answered; I also wanted to get a handle on things (not all of which have been left unanswered) such as: Homicide. Suicide. Attacks by animals and insects. Electrocution. “Symptoms and ill-defined conditions” (as the _World Almanac_ has listed it). Improper treatment in medical facilities. Lightning and other natural phenomena. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/8 "2015-11-14T23:45:08Z")
This is starting to sound like the plot of _The Abominable Dr. Phibes_. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/9 "2015-11-15T09:15:32Z")
The original Facebook post clearly selected some statistics that, correct or not, supported their particular case. This is a not uncommon way of trying to make a point. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/various-causes-of-death-enumerating/737514/10 "2015-11-15T13:58:15Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,979 [(US 2013)](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm) > Unintentional poisoning 38,851[(US 2013)](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm) > Unintentional fall deaths 30,208 (US 2013 same as above cite) A couple comments from an ED doc to put these in perspective: Influenza and pneumonia mostly bump off people whose bodies are otherwise already trying to die. “Unintentional poisoning” would have to include likker, recreational drugs and narcotics (legal or illegal) to get that number. IOW the “unintentional” does not refer to the fact that the individual had no idea what they were ingesting or inhaling. It’s pretty rare that I’ve seen someone actually die from a true accidental poisoning as in the kid ate a handful of Granpa’s digoxin (mushrooms excepted, I guess, and even that’s not very common). Falls for sure; but again I bet it’s the elderly who represent the vast bulk.