# What time of year do people die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792 "2004-04-01T21:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfvgang22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@wolfvgang22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfvgang22)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/1 "2004-04-01T21:11:07Z")
As a biology teacher, somtimes students ask me questions that they are just dying to have answered. In one case, a student asked me “What time of year do most people die?” I searched the internet, to no avail. I asked the local funeral director in our town, who said that the old timers have a saying that people tend to pass away “when the sap rises and the sap falls”, referring to the changes in season. Surely somebody keeps stats on this? Anybody know the straight dope? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/2 "2004-04-01T21:16:08Z")
> [@wolfvgang22](#): > > As a biology teacher, somtimes students ask me questions that they are just dying to have answered. In one case, a student asked me “What time of year do most people die?” I searched the internet, to no avail. I asked the local funeral director in our town, who said that the old timers have a saying that people tend to pass away “when the sap rises and the sap falls”, referring to the changes in season. Surely somebody keeps stats on this? Anybody know the straight dope? 🙂 There are probably official stats on this somewhere. Just as an “off the top of my head” guess, my first answer (assuming everything else to be equal) would be October, since it is the longest month of the year in most of the United States (it has one hour more than other 31-day months in areas that observe daylight savings time). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/3 "2004-04-01T21:23:29Z")
Damn, I thought I had copied the address before I left the site, but I hadn’t. According to the National Council on Health Statistics, in the U.S., both infant and adult mortality rates peak in December, stay high through March, then drop to their lowest points in the sumer and fall. They begin to rise again in October. ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/4 "2004-04-01T21:55:31Z")
It is an established fact that ALL people die within 6 months of their birthday. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/5 "2004-04-01T21:56:29Z")
So I guess we should be more careful if there’s an “r” in the month. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/6 "2004-04-02T00:36:06Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Damn, I thought I had copied the address before I left the site, but I hadn’t. If you’re in IE, click on History (or the picture of the sundial), then View, By Order Visited Today. Hopefully it’s not too far down the list. Or sort by Site if you remember the top-level URL. If you don’t use IE, I’m sure there’s something similar on most browsers. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/7 "2004-04-02T02:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > According to the National Council on Health Statistics, in the U.S., both infant and adult mortality rates peak in December, stay high through March, then drop to their lowest points in the sumer and fall. They begin to rise again in October. This makes sense. Cold weather is harder to deal with than mild weather, or even hot weather IMHO. Also, winter can be a depressing time of the year for many people. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/8 "2004-04-02T05:49:03Z")
In the USA, more people die in the first week of the month than at other times. [Here is the summary of the article demonstrating this fact](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/341/2/93), and [here is the full text](http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/341/2/93) (if it is accessible without subscription - I’m not sure). More people in industrialized countries die from [heart attacks on Mondays](http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/90/1/87?ijkey=721226c5bedb7310de1b5dd4fff23cdf0b09a01a&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha), especially early in the morning, than on other days. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/9 "2004-04-02T06:30:04Z")
Sort of off topic but I’ve always read that April was #1 for suicides. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-of-year-do-people-die/237792/10 "2004-04-02T06:48:48Z")
People probably die more around the holidays - not only do they pack on the pounds but there’s the stress of being with your family all the time!