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| 15277 | Causes of Death | causes-of-death | page | publish | <!-- wp:html --> <div class="blog-info">This article was first published in February 2018. Last updated in December 2019. </div> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Around 56 million people die each year.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group">this chart</a>.{/ref} </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What caused their death? How did the causes of death change over time and differ between different countries and world regions? And what are the risk factors that lead to early death? These are the big questions we are answering here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/summary --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#what-do-people-die-from">Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. The second biggest cause are cancers.</a><ul><li>In this section you can see the causes of death for all countries in the world.</li></ul></li><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#what-do-people-die-from">Causes of death vary significantly between countries: non-communicable diseases dominate in rich countries, whereas infectious diseases remain high at lower incomes.</a></li><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#causes-of-death-by-category">The world is making progress against infectious diseases. As a consequence more people are dying from non-communicable diseases.</a></li><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#breakdown-of-deaths-by-age">Fewer people die at a young age. Almost half of all people who die are 70 years and older.</a></li><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#risk-factors-for-death">Leading risk factors for premature death globally include high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, high blood sugar and environmental risk factors including air pollution.</a></li><li><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from">There is a large difference between what people die from and which causes of death receive news coverage.</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- /wp:owid/summary --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is important to understand what is meant by the <em>cause</em> of death and the <em>risk factor</em> associated with a premature death:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has <em>one</em> specific cause. In their own words: ‘each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death’.{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) – Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9</a>{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement">Below</a>, in our section on Measurement, you find a more detailed explanation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>What do people die from?</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>56 million people died in 2017.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group">this chart</a>.{/ref} What did they die from?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal <em>The Lancet</em>.{ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The latest study can be found at the website of the Lancet here: <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/gbd">TheLancet.com/GBD</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2017 study was published as in the following publication: “Roth, G. A., Abate, D., Abate, K. H., Abay, S. M., Abbafati, C., Abbasi, N., … & Abdollahpour, I. (2018). Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. <em>The Lancet</em>, 392(10159), 1736-1788″, and is online <a href="http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-age-sex-specific-mortality-282-causes-death-195">here</a>.{/ref} These estimates of the annual number of deaths by cause are shown here. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the "change country" toggle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) not only dominate mortality figures at a global level, but also account for the majority of deaths in high-income countries. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Deaths from causes such as infectious disease, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies, neonatal and maternal deaths are common – and in some cases dominant – across low- and middle-income nations. In Kenya, for example, the leading cause of death remains diarrheal diseases. In South Africa and Botswana, the leading cause of death is HIV/AIDS. In high-income countries however the share of deaths caused by these is very low.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Using the timeline on the chart you can also explore how deaths by cause have changed over time. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Death rates related to disease, illness and other health factors tend to change relatively slowly over time. Whilst death rates may fall or decline from year-to-year as part of a general trend, dramatic changes in such deaths are typically rare. <a href="https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters">Natural disaster</a> and <a href="https://owid.cloud/terrorism">terrorism-related deaths</a> are an important exception to this rule, as they can vary significantly between countries. This can make the annual comparison of deaths and death rates between health-related factors and volatile events more challenging. Understanding the relative risk of these events can require a longer-term overview of high and low-mortality years. We cover discussion and analysis on this topic in a post <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/is-it-fair-to-compare-terrorism-and-disaster-with-other-causes-of-death/">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>Related chart – <em>Share</em> of deaths by cause.</strong> This chart shows the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-by-cause">breakdown of global deaths by cause</a>, given as the <em>share</em> of annual deaths, rather than the absolute number.</p><p><strong>Related research:</strong> We study the major differences in mortality across the world using country examples in our post <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from/"><strong>here</strong></a>. </p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Causes of death by category</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>The share of deaths from infectious diseases are declining; a larger share is dying from NCDs</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the distribution of global deaths broken down by three broad categories: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Injuries caused by road accidents, <a href="https://owid.cloud/homicides">homicides</a>, <a href="https://owid.cloud/war-and-peace">conflict deaths</a>, drowning, fire-related accidents, <a href="https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters">natural disasters</a> and <a href="https://owid.cloud/suicide">suicides</a>.</li><li>Non-communicable diseases. These are often chronic, long-term illnesses and include cardiovascular diseases (including stroke), <a href="https://owid.cloud/cancer">cancers</a>, diabetes and <em>chronic </em>respiratory diseases (such as chronic pulmonary disease and asthma, but excluding infectious respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza).</li><li>Communicable diseases (i.e. infectious diseases) such as <a href="https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids">HIV/AIDS</a>, <a href="https://owid.cloud/malaria">malaria</a>, and tuberculosis together with <a href="https://owid.cloud/maternal-mortality">maternal deaths</a>, <a href="https://owid.cloud/child-mortality">neonatal deaths</a> and <a href="https://owid.cloud/hunger-and-undernourishment">deaths from malnutrition</a>.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is shown for global deaths as the default, but can be viewed for any country or region using the "change country" toggle on the interactive chart.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At a global level we see that the majority of deaths are caused by <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/" target="_blank">non-communicable diseases</a> (NCDs). Collectively NCDs account for more than 73% of global deaths. As the world is making progress in the fight against many infectious diseases, and as <a href="https://owid.cloud/age-structure">populations age</a>, we expect that NCDs will become increasingly dominant as the cause of death. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p><strong>Related chart – the death rate from causes of death.</strong> This chart shows the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/age-standardized-death-rate-by-cause">death rate</a> from infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and injuries over time.</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-number-of-deaths-by-cause?stackMode=relative" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Causes of death by age</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Breakdown of deaths by age</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp-block-tombstone 29139 --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Fewer people die at a young age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In this chart we see the breakdown of deaths by age bracket. Globally fewer and fewer people die at a young age.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In 2017, there were 56.5 million deaths globally; just over half of these were people who were 70 years or older; 26% were between 50 and 69 years old; 13% were between 15 and 49; only 1% were older than 5 and younger than 14; and almost 9% were children under the age of 5.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The age at which people die has changed significantly since 1990. Fewer people die at a young age. In 1990 nearly one-quarter of all deaths were in children younger than 5. In 2019, this had declined to just under 9%. In contrast, the share of deaths in the over-70s age bracket has increased from a third to half of all deaths over this period.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is possible to change this chart to any other country or region in the world. In countries with good health the share dying at a young age is very low. In Japan more than 85% are 70 years or older.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group?stackMode=relative" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Causes of deaths of children younger than 5</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This chart shows the number of deaths in children under 5 years old by cause. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Through the combination of neonatal (newborn infants less than 28 days old) disorders, infections and congenital (from birth) defects, we see that the largest share of deaths in under-5s arises from complications at birth or in the first few weeks of life. Under-5s are also highly susceptible to lower respiratory infections, infectious diseases, diarrheal infections, malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the “change country” toggle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Death rates in under-5s are typically much lower in high-income countries, and the nature of these deaths is different from lower incomes. In the United Kingdom, for example, child deaths tend to be highly dominated by neonatal complications. Deaths from infectious and diarrheal diseases and malnutrition is very low. In contrast, infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies are large causes of death in lower-income countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Child \u0026amp; Infant Mortality","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/child-mortality","mediaId":27990,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore causes of death in children and our progress against them in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-in-under-5s" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Causes of deaths for children between 5 and 14</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of children who died between the age of 5 and 14 year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Globally, deaths in the 5-14 year old age bracket account for a small percentage of the total (1-2%). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are six dominant causes of deaths in this age category. The leading causes globally in 5-14 year olds are road accidents, cancers and malaria. Lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, and drowning are all dominant causes typically in the range of 40,000-50,000 deaths in 2017.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Again, this distribution varies by country. In the United States, for example, cancers are the leading cause of death. In India, it’s diarrheal diseases; in Bangladesh and China it’s drowning; and in South Africa HIV/AIDS.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-5-14-year-olds" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Causes of deaths for 15 to 49 year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 15 and 49.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the 15 to 49 years old category, we see that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) begin to become dominant. Globally the leading cause of death in this age group is cardiovascular disease, followed cancers which both account for more than one million deaths. Road accidents, HIV/AIDS and suicide are all significant within this group.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For some countries, such as South Africa, by far the dominant cause of death is HIV/AIDS in 15 to 49 year olds. In a number of countries (in particular across Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico), homicide is the dominant cause for 15-49 years old.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-15-49-year-olds" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Causes of deaths for 50 to 69 year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 50 and 69.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In 50 to 69 year olds, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are strongly dominant — here cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory disease and diabetes are the top causes. With the exception of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis which for some countries climb into the top causes, the global variability in death causes for 50-69 year olds is much lower than that of younger age categories.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-50-69-year-olds" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Causes of deaths for people who were older than 69 years</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This visualization shows the causes of death of people who were 70 years and older at the time of their death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the oldest age category (70 years and older), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) still dominate, however other death causes including Alzheimer's/dementias, and diarrheal diseases also become dominant. Diarrheal diseases remain within the few leading causes of deaths in 70+ year olds for many low-income countries, despite being relatively low at higher incomes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-70-year-olds" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Risk factors for death</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is important to understand what is meant by the <em>cause</em> of death and the <em>risk factor</em> associated with a premature death:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has <em>one</em> specific cause. In their own words: ‘each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death’.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). Risk factors can be grouped into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All of these estimates are developed independently. This means that we cannot sum all ‘attributed deaths’ and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement">Below</a>, in our section on Measurement, we describe in more detail how the epidemiologists of the Global Burden of Disease study attribute risk factors to mortality.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>The number of deaths by risk factor</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The estimates shown in this visualization show the numbers of deaths attributed to specific risk factors in 2017.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here we see that there are several dominant risk factors for death: notably, those related to dietary and activity lifestyle factors (including blood pressure, physical activity, body-mass index, blood sugar, and dietary intake); smoking; air pollution (both outdoor and indoor); environmental factors including clean water and sanitation; and safe sex (for the prevention of HIV/AIDS).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the “change country” toggle. The contribution of specific risk factors varies significantly by country. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For most high-income countries, the dominant risk factors are those related to healthy diets, smoking and alcohol intake. Other risk factors such as clean water, sanitation, and child wasting or stunting are very low. In low-income countries the inverse is true: in Sierra Leone for example, the top risk factors include child wasting, household air pollution, unsafe water source, poor sanitation, and the lack of access to handwashing facilities. For countries where HIV/AIDS is a major health burden, such as South Africa and Kenya, unsafe sex is the top risk factor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The data here is measured across all age groups and both sexes — figures for specific age groups are detailed below. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Risk factors for death by age</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Risk factors of death in under-5s</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-under5s" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Risk factors for death in 5-14 year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-5-14years" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Risk factors for death in 15-49 year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-15-49years" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Risk factors for death in 50-69 year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-50-69years" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Risk factors for death in 70+ year olds</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-factor-over-70" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Cause by cause</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Cardiovascular diseases</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a term used to refer to the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/about_cvd/en/" target="_blank">range of diseases</a> which affect the heart and blood vessels. These include hypertension (high blood pressure); coronary heart disease (heart attack); cerebrovascular disease (stroke); heart failure; and other heart diseases. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from cardiovascular diseases across the world. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Overall we see a strong East-West divide in CVD death rates. Rates across North America and Western/Northern Europe tend to be significantly lower than those across Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Across most of Latin America, these rates are moderate. In France, for example, the age-standardized rate was around 86 per 100,000 in 2017; across Eastern Europe this rate was around 5 times higher at 400-500 per 100,000. At the highest end of the scale, Uzbekistan had a rate of 724 per 100,000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Cardiovascular disease deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of deaths from CVD by age category. Globally we see that approximately 17.8 million people died from CVD. The majority (64 percent) of deaths occurred in the age bracket of 70 years and above. Just below 30 percent were aged 50-69, and the remaining were aged 15-49 (CVD deaths in those aged 14 years and under are small). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-deaths-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Cardiovascular disease death rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the CVD death rate per 100,000 differentiated by age categories. As established in the breakdown of CVD deaths by age, the majority of deaths occur in the 70+ years old age category. Death rates are therefore significantly higher in the oldest age group at over 2600 per 100,000 in 2016.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Cancers</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cancers are defined by the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer" target="_blank">National Cancer Institute</a> as a collection of diseases in which abnormal cells can divide and spread to nearby tissue. Cancers can arise in many parts of the body – leading to a range of cancer types, as shown below – and in some cases spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see cancer death rates across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Cancers","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/cancer","mediaId":27629,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on cancer prevalence, deaths, and survival rates in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rates?tab=map" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Dementia</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dementia comprises several forms — the most common being Alzheimer's disease — is <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs362/en/" target="_blank">an illness</a> which results in a deterioration of cognitive capacity and function beyond what is expect from the normal ageing process. It can occur either in a chronic or progressive form. It affects several cognitive functions including memory, comprehension, judgement, language and learning capacity.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from dementia across the world. Note that these rates have been age-standardized which aims to correct for differences in the age structure of a population (which are different between countries and change over time). This therefore allows us to compare the likelihood that any given individual will die from dementia across countries and through time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Across most countries, the death rate from dementia-related illness is below 55 per 100,000 individuals. Dementia rates in some countries have changed slightly since 1990, but significantly less so than other disease burdens.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Dementia deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The chart shows the breakdown of dementia-related deaths by age group. Dementia typically occurs in older persons: of the 2.4 million who died from dementia in 2017, 94 percent were 70 years or older.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-related-deaths-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Diarrheal diseases</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Diarrheal diseases are caused primarily by viral and bacterial pathogens. They are particularly dominant at lower incomes where there is poor access to safe <a href="https://owid.cloud/sanitation">sanitation</a>, <a href="https://owid.cloud/water-access">drinking water</a> and hygiene facilities. Diarrheal diseases are a <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases#diarrheal-diseases-are-one-of-the-biggest-killers-of-children-worldwide">leading cause</a> of death in children.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from diarrheal diseases across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Diarrheal diseases","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/diarrheal-diseases","mediaId":28148,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on diarrheal diseases in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/diarrheal-disease-death-rates" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Tuberculosis</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tuberculosis (TB) is <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180418014606/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/" target="_blank">an illness</a> caused by the ingestion of bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which affects the lungs. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that up to one-quarter of the global population has latent TB, meaning they have been infected with the disease but are not ill with the disease (although this does not inhibit it from becoming active in the future).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>People with compromised immune systems, such as those suffering from malnutrition, diabetes, or are smokers are more likely to become ill with TB. There is a strong link between <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids">HIV/AIDS</a> and TB: those infected with HIV are 20-30 times more likely to develop active tuberculosis.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from tuberculosis across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Across most countries, the death rate from TB is below 5 per 100,000. Rates in 2017 across Eastern Europe were slightly higher, between 5-10 per 100,000. Across South Asia, these reach 25-50 per 100,000, with highest rates across Sub-Saharan Africa ranging from 50 to over 250 per 100,000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Tuberculosis deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the breakdown of deaths from tuberculosis by age category. At a global level there has been a 25% drop in TB deaths, falling from 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2017.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-deaths-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Tuberculosis death rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates from TB by age category. Here we see that death rates from TB are highest in the 70+ years old age category, followed by 50-69 year olds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Malnutrition</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Malnutrition arises in various forms, with the broad definition capturing undernourishment, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/micronutrient-deficiency">micronutrient deficiencies</a> and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/obesity">obesity</a>. In this case, we refer to '<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/W0073e/w0073e05.htm#P2919_330117" target="_blank">protein-energy malnutrition</a>' (PEM) which refers to energy or protein deficiency caused by insufficient food intake. Protein-energy deficiency can also be exacerbated by infection or disease, which can have the effect of increasing nutritional needs, and/or reducing the body's ability to retain energy or nutrients. You can find more information on hunger and undernourishment in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment">our entry</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from protein-energy malnutrition across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The highest rates are seen across across Sub-Saharan Africa, which are typically in the range of 10-100 per 100,000 individuals. For most countries, this rate is below 5 per 100,000. In North Korea during its famine period, rates reached over 400 per 100,000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Malnutrition deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the annual number of deaths attributed to protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), differentiated by age group. Globally there were approximately 232,000 deaths related to PEM. Children under 5 years old are disproportionately affected by PEM (accounting for 61 percent of global deaths) — child <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-weight-for-height-wasting">wasting</a> (too little weight for one's height) and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-height-for-age-stunting">stunting</a> (too short for one's age) is a common symptom of malnutrition.<br><br>Global protein-energy malnutrition deaths have declined since 1990. However, we see the dramatic impact of the North Korean <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/famines">famine</a> through the 1990s.{ref}Spoorenberg, T., & Schwekendiek, D. (2012). Demographic changes in north Korea: 1993–2008. <em>Population and Development Review</em>, <em>38</em>(1), 133-158. Available <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x/full">online</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-deaths-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Malnutrition death rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates by age category. As with the total number of deaths by age, rates in children under 5 years old are highest; at a global level, these have fallen by around two-thirds from 63 to 20 per 100,000 since 1990. Rates for those over 70 years old are also relatively high, at 12 per 100,000 (although this decline over time has been less significant).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>HIV/AIDS</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). AIDS results in a gradual and persistent decline and failure of the immune system, resulting in heightened risk of life-threatening infection and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/cancer">cancers</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the majority of cases, HIV is a sexually-transmitted infection. However, HIV can also be transmitted from a mother to her child, during pregnancy or childbirth, or through breastfeeding. Non-sexual transmission can also occur through the sharing of injection equipment such as needles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from HIV/AIDS across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Most countries have a rate of less than 10 deaths per 100,000 – often much lower, below 5 per 100,000. Across Europe the death rate is less than one per 100,000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Across Sub-Saharan Africa the rates are much higher. Most countries in the South of the region had rates greater than 100 per 100,000. In South Africa and Mozambique, it was over 200 per 100,000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"HIV/AIDS","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids","mediaId":28710,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on HIV prevalence, deaths, and treatment in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/hiv-death-rates" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Malaria</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Malaria is a disease that is transmitted from person to person by infected mosquitoes. The bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito transmits a parasite that enters the victim’s blood system and travels into the person’s liver where the parasite reproduces. There the parasite causes a high fever that involves shaking chills and pain. In the worst cases malaria leads to coma and death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from malaria across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Malaria","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/malaria","mediaId":28856,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on malaria prevalence, deaths, and treatments in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malaria-death-rates" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Smoking</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tobacco smoking is not a direct cause of death, but it nonetheless one of the world's largest health problems. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Smoking is one of the world's leading risk factors for premature death. Tobacco a risk factor for several of the world’s leading causes of death, including lung and other forms of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from tobacco smoking across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Smoking","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/smoking","mediaId":28857,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on the prevalence of smoking, its health impacts and attributed deaths in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-smoking?tab=map" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Suicide</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Every suicide is a tragedy. With timely, evidence-based interventions, suicides can be prevented.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). <em><a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/131056/9789241564779_eng.pdf">Preventing suicide: A global imperative</a></em>. World Health Organization.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from suicide across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Suicide","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/suicide","mediaId":28130,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on deaths from suicide in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/suicide-death-rates" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Homicides</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Intentional homicides are defined as “an unlawful death deliberately inflicted on one person by another person".{ref}OECD (2011) – How’s Life? Measuring Well-being: Measuring Well-being.{/ref} Civilian and military deaths during <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/">interstate wars</a>, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/civil-wars">civil wars</a> and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/genocides/">genocides</a> are not counted as homicides – but <em>Our World in Data</em> presents the evidence on deaths in the linked articles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see homicide rates across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Homicides","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/homicides","mediaId":28858,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on homicides in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Natural disasters</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Natural disasters can occur in many forms – ranging from earthquakes and tsunamis, to extreme weather events, and heatwaves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The largest disaster events are often infrequent, but high-impact meaning there is significant variability in deaths from year-to-year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the the map we see death rates from natural disasters across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Natural disasters","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters","mediaId":27290,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore data on the number, costs and deaths from natural disasters in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-disasters" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Road incidents</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Road incident deaths include those of drivers – motor vehicles and motorcyclists – in addition to cyclists and pedestrian deaths.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from road incidents across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Death rates are typically lowest across Western Europe and Japan, with less than 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. Across the Americas, rates are typically slightly higher at 5 to 20; most countries in Asia lie between 15 and 30; and rates are typically highest across Sub-Saharan Africa with over 25 per 100,000. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-road-accidents" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Motor vehicle, motorcyclist, cyclist & pedestrian deaths</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Road incident deaths include those from motor vehicles (including drivers and passengers within the car), pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. In the chart we see the breakdown of these deaths by category. The total number of road deaths increased during the 1990s and early 2000s before roughly plateauing since then (with a small decline in recent years).<br><br>The largest share of deaths at the global level are pedestrians (with 39 percent of the share), closely followed by those in motor vehicles (36 percent); motorcyclists (18 percent); and cyclists (6 percent). This share has remained fairly consistent with time.<br><br>This breakdown varies significantly across the world, however. In India and Brazil, for example, a much larger share (31 and 33 percent respectively) are motorcyclists. In the United States 68 percent are motor vehicle passengers or drivers. In China, 58 percent are pedestrians.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-deaths-by-type" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Road incident deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the breakdown of road accident deaths by age category. The largest share of deaths at a global level are within the 15-49 year old category with 54% of the total. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-accident-deaths-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Road incident death rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the breakdown of death rates from road incidents by age category. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Drowning</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasises that drowning is one of the most overlooked, preventable causes of death across the world.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). <em>Global report on drowning: preventing a leading killer</em>. World Health Organization. Available <a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/143893/1/9789241564786_eng.pdf">online</a>.{/ref} For every country in the world, drowning is among the top 10 killers for children. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, it is the top mortality cause for children under 15 years old.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from drowning across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In 2016, death rates were highest in Papua New Guinea and Seychelles, between 10 to 16 deaths per 100,000. Rates were also high in countries such as Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Vietnam, and Haiti.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If we look at death rates we see a significant decline since 1990 — especially in low to middle-income countries. In Bangladesh and China, for example, rates have fallen by more than two-thirds over this period.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Drowning deaths by age group</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the breakdown of annual drowning deaths by age group. At a global level we see drowning deaths have declined around 45 percent from 530,000 in 1990 to 300,000 in 2017. The most dramatic decline is seen in under-5s, where deaths have fallen from 209,000 to just over 60,000 over this period. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-deaths-by-age-group" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Drowning death rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the relative death rates from drowning across age groups. Here we see that both the young (under 5s) and old (70+ years old) are at highest risk of death from drowning. Most striking is the dramatic decline in death rates for under-5s. This has fallen by more than two-thirds since 1990, decreasing from 32 to 9 per 100,000. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Fire</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from fire across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Most countries across the Americas, Western Europe, East Asia and Oceania average death rates below 2 per 100,000. Rates across other regions are typically higher at 2-6 per 100,000. When viewed through time we see a notable decline in fire death rates, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Additional information</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Fire deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The chart shows the annual deaths from fire or burning incidents broken down by age group. In 2017, there were around 121,000 global deaths from fire which represents a slight decline from the mid-1990s when deaths reached over 150,000. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-deaths-by-age-group" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Fire deaths rates by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the visualization we see the relative death rates between age categories. At the global level, those 70 years and above are typically at the highest risk with 7 per 100,000. Next is those under 5 years old, but with a significant drop in death rate to 2-3 per 100,000. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates-by-age" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Terrorism</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Terrorism <a href="https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/terrorism">is defined</a> in the Oxford Dictionary as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” We quickly see that this definition is unspecific and subjective.{ref}Teichman, J. (1989). How to define terrorism. <em>Philosophy</em>, <em>64</em>(250), 505-517.{/ref} In our full article on <em>Terrorism</em> <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism#what-is-terrorism">we look at</a> adopted definitions, and how it's distinguished from other forms of violence.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the map we see death rates from terrorism across the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Terrorism","linkUrl":"https://owid.cloud/terrorism","mediaId":28861,"mediaUrl":"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-scaled.png","mediaAlt":""} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>You can explore data on the number of terrorist attacks and deaths in our full article here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:owid/prominent-link --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fatalities-from-terrorism" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Deaths by animal</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Mosquitoes are by far the world's deadliest animal</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Around 1.5 million people are killed by animals every year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>More than half a million are killed by other humans – in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace">war</a>, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/homicides">homicides</a>, and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism">terrorism</a>. And close to a million people are killed by other animals in any given year.{ref}Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: Malaria, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Snake and scorpion deaths are based on IHME fatality estimates from venomous animal contact.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dog deaths are the sum of deaths from rabies and estimates of dog attacks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Deaths by shark and crocodile are summarised annually in updated databases. Figures from remaining animals (without an attributed disease) are typically not recorded annually, but are provided as average estimates from sources including the UN FAO, National Geographic, WWF and Gates Notes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Deaths from humans is defined as the sum of homicide, conflict and terrorism deaths.{/ref} </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mosquitoes are, by far, the world's deadliest animal for humans: at estimated 780,000 died from the transmission of disease from mosquitoes in 2016. Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: <a href="https://owid.cloud/malaria">Malaria</a>, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":18890,"sizeSlug":"large"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-750x528.png" alt="" class="wp-image-18890"/><figcaption><em>Estimated number of global human deaths by animal, either from direct contact/attack or transmission of disease.</em></figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Does the news reflect what we die from?</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp-block-tombstone 26460 --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the primary motivations for our work at Our World in Data is to provide a fact-based overview of the world we live in — a perspective that includes the persistent and long-term changes that run as a backdrop to our daily lives. We aim to provide the complement to the fast-paced reporting we see in the news. The media provides a near-instantaneous snapshot of single events; events that are, in most cases, negative. The persistent, large-scale trends of <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts">progress</a> never make the headlines.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But is there evidence that such a disconnect exists between what we see in the news and what is reality for most of us?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One study attempted to look at this from the perspective of what we die from: is what we actually die from reflected in the media coverage these topics receive?{ref}Shen et al. (2018). Death: Reality vs Reported. Available at: <a href="https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/">https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> To answer this, Shen and his team compared four key sources of data:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li>the causes of deaths in the USA (statistics published by the <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CDC's WONDER public health database</a>)</li><li>Google search trends for causes of deaths (sourced from <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Google Trends</a>)</li><li>mentions of causes of deaths in the <em>New York Times</em> (sourced from the <a href="https://developer.nytimes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NYT article database</a>)</li><li>mentions of causes of deaths in <em>The Guardian</em> newspaper (sourced from <a href="http://open-platform.theguardian.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian article database</a>)</li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For each source the authors calculated the relative share of deaths, share of Google searches, and share of media coverage. They restricted the considered causes to the top 10 causes of death in the US and additionally included terrorism, homicide, and drug overdoses. This allows for us to compare the relative representation across different sources.{ref}All values are normalized to 100% so they represent their <em>relative</em> share of the top causes, rather than absolute counts (e.g. ‘deaths’ represents each cause's share of deaths within the 13 categories shown rather than its share of total deaths; the 13 categories here account for approximately 88% of total US deaths).{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>What we die from; what we Google; what we read in the news</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So, what do the results look like? In the chart here I present the comparison.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first column represents each cause's share of US deaths; the second the share of Google searches each receives; third, the relative article mentions in the <em>New York Times;</em> and finally article mentions in <em>The Guardian</em>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The coverage in both newspapers here is strikingly similar. And the discrepancy between what we actually die from and what we get informed of in the media is what stands out:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li>around one-third of the considered causes of deaths resulted from heart disease, yet this cause of death receives only 2-3 percent of Google searches and media coverage;</li><li>just under one-third of the deaths came from cancer; we actually Google cancer a lot (37 percent of searches) and <a href="https://owid.cloud/cancer">it is a popular entry</a> here on our site; but it receives only 13-14 percent of media coverage;</li><li>we searched for road incidents more frequently than their share of deaths; however, they receive much less attention in the news;</li><li>when it comes to deaths from strokes, Google searches and media coverage are surprisingly balanced;</li><li>the largest discrepancies concern violent forms of death: <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/suicide">suicide</a>, <a href="https://owid.cloud/homicides">homicide</a> and <a href="https://owid.cloud/terrorism">terrorism</a>. All three receive much more relative attention in Google searches and media coverage than their relative share of deaths. When it comes to the media coverage on causes of death, violent deaths account for more than two-thirds of coverage in the <em>New York Times</em> and <em>The Guardian</em> but account for less than 3 percent of the total deaths in the US.</li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What's interesting is that what Americans search on Google is a much closer reflection of what kills us than what is presented in the media. One way to think about it is that media outlets may produce content that they think readers are most interested in, but this is not necessarily reflected in our preferences when we look for information ourselves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[<em>Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution; The chart shows the summary for the year 2016, but interactive charts for all available years are available at <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from#additional-information">the end of this blog</a>.{ref}The authors calculated this data annually from 1999 to 2016 (due to data availability, from 2004 onwards for Google Trends).{/ref}</em>]</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"center","id":23625,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"custom"} --> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png"><img src="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png" alt="" class="wp-image-23625"/></a></figure></div> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>How over- or underrepresented are deaths in the media?</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As we can see clearly from the chart above, there is a disconnect between what we die from, and how much coverage these causes get in the media. Another way to summarize this discrepancy is to calculate how over- or underrepresented each cause is in the media. To do this, we simply calculate the ratio between the share of deaths and share of media coverage for each cause.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In this chart, we see how over- or underrepresented each cause is in newspaper coverage.{ref}Note here that these ratios are calculated based on the average of annual trends over the period 1999 to 2016 rather than the year 2016 alone.{/ref} Causes shown in red are overrepresented in the media; those in blue are underrepresented. Numbers denote the factor by which they are misrepresented.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The major standout here – I had to break the scale on the y-axis since it's several orders of magnitude higher than everything else – is terrorism: it is overrepresented in the news by almost a factor of 4000.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Homicides are also very overrepresented in the news, by a factor of 31. The most underrepresented in the media are kidney disease (11-fold), heart disease (10-fold), and, perhaps surprisingly, drug overdoses (7-fold). Stroke and diabetes are the two causes most accurately represented.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[<em>Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution</em>].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"align":"center","id":23627,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"custom"} --> <div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><a href="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png"><img src="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png" alt="" class="wp-image-23627"/></a></figure></div> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4><em>Should</em> media exposure reflect what we die from?</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>From the comparisons above, it's clear that the news doesn't reflect what we die from. But there is another important question: <em>should</em> these be representative?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are several reasons we would, or should, expect that what we read online, and what is covered in the media wouldn't correspond with what we actually die from.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first is that we would expect there to be some preventative aspect to information we access. There's a strong argument that things we search for and gain information on encourages us to take action which prevents a further death. There are several examples where I can imagine this to be true. People who are concerned about cancer may search online for guidance on symptoms and be convinced to see their doctor. Some people with suicidal thoughts may seek help and support online which later results in an averted death from suicide. We'd therefore expect that both intended or unintended exposure to information on particular topics could prevent deaths from a given cause. Some imbalance in the relative proportions therefore makes sense. But clearly there is some bias in our concerns: most people die from heart disease (hence it should be something that concerns us) yet only a small minority seek [possibly preventative] information online.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Second, this study focused on what people in the USA die from, not what people across the world die from. Is media coverage more representative of global deaths? Not really. In another blog post, '<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What does the world die from?</a>', I looked in detail at the ranking of causes of death globally and by country. The relative ranking of deaths in the USA is reflective of the global average: most people die from heart disease and cancers, and terrorism ranks last or second last (alongside <a href="https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters">natural disasters</a>). Terrorism accounted for 0.06 percent of global deaths in 2016. Whilst we'd expect non-US events to feature in the<em> New York Times, </em>global news shouldn't substantially affect representative coverage of causes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The third relates to the very nature of news: it focuses on events and stories. Whilst I am often critical of the messages and narratives portrayed in the media, I have some sympathy for what they choose to cover. Reporting has become increasingly fast-paced. As news consumers, our expectations have quickly shifted from daily, to hourly, down to minute-by-minute updates of what's happening in the world. Combine this with our attraction to stories and narratives. It's not surprising that the media focuses on reports of single (inadvertently negative) events: a murder case or a terrorist attack. The most underrepresented cause of death in the media was kidney disease. But with an audience that expects a minute-by-minute feed of coverage, how much can possibly be said about kidney disease? Without conquering our compulsion for the latest unusual story, we cannot expect this representation to be perfectly balanced.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>How to combat our bias for single events</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Media and its consumers are stuck in a reinforcing cycle. The news reports on breaking events, which are often based around a compelling story. Consumers want to know what's going on in the world <strong>— </strong>we are quickly immersed by the latest headline. We come to expect news updates with increasing frequency, and media channels have clear incentives to deliver. This locks us into a cycle of expectation and coverage with a strong bias for outlier events. Most of us are left with a skewed perception of the world; we think the world is much worse than it is.{ref}There are many results which show we have a negative bias of global progress. <em><a href="https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness-book/">Factfulness</a>, </em>published by the Roslings, is packed with public survey results of Gapminder's <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/" target="_blank">Ignorance Test</a>. The test shows that the vast majority of people get the most basic questions on global development wrong (nearly always thinking the world is in a worst state than it is).{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The responsibility in breaking this cycle lies with both media producers and consumers. Will we ever stop reporting and reading the latest news? Unlikely. But we can all be more conscious of how we let this news shape our understanding of the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And journalists can do much better in providing context of the broader trends: if reporting on a homicide, for example, include context of <a href="https://owid.cloud/homicides">how homicide rates are changing</a> over time.{ref}In many countries they <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ourworldindata.org/homicides#homicide-rates" target="_blank">have been falling</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As media consumers we can be much more aware of the fact that relying on the 24/7 news coverage alone is wholly insufficient for understanding the state of the world. This requires us to check our (often unconscious) bias for single narratives and seek out sources that provide a fact-based perspective on the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This antidote to the news is what we try to provide at Our World in Data. It should be accessible for everyone, which is why our work is completely open-access. Whether you are a media producer or consumer, feel free to take and use anything you find here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"is-style-sticky-right"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:heading {"level":5} --> <h5><strong>Shares of deaths, media coverage and Google searches over time</strong></h5> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The interactive charts present the full annual data series published by Shen et al. (2018), and summarised above, on the relative share of deaths in the US, Google searches and New York Times (NYT) and The Guardian media coverage across the 13 cause of death categories. For share of deaths, NYT and The Guardian coverage, data extends from 1999 to 2016. Due to data availability Google Trends data only runs from the year 2004 to 2016.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/relative-share-of-deaths-in-usa"></iframe></figure> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/relative-share-of-google-searches-for-causes-of-death"></iframe></figure> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-coverage-in-nyt"></iframe></figure> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-guardian-media-coverage"></iframe></figure> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- /wp:owid/additional-information --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Definitions and measurement</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In this article we rely largely on the estimates presented in the <em>Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</em> studies that are produced under the leadership of the <em>Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation</em>. The study is published in <em>The Lancet</em> at <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/gbd">TheLancet.com/GBD</a> and is the most regularly updated; comprehensive; and most in-depth analysis and synthesis of the causes and risk factors of death worldwide.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Estimating the causes of death</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The IHME's Global Burden of Disease (GBD) has developed a standardized approach to the attribution of deaths to specific causes.{ref}GBD 2017 Mortality Collaborators (2018) – Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. In <em>The Lancet</em>, Vol. 392, No. 10159 Published: November 10, 2018. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9</a>{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Their methodology states that "each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death—in accordance with ICD principles".{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) – Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9</a>{/ref} Data to estimate the causes of deaths is far from complete, particularly in poorer countries, and for this estimation the researchers therefore need to rely on various sources. These sources include vital registration (VR); verbal autopsy (VA); surveillance, census and survey data; cancer registries; and police records. GBD then develops a data standardization and processing methodology within which they define data quality and completeness scores, and where necessary adjust completeness to 100% using cause fractions for a given location-age-sex-year and estimated all-cause mortality for that location-age-sex-year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The GBD assessment is strongly tied to the mortality cause categories as defined within the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/" target="_blank">International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</a> codes, as used by the World Health Organization (WHO). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An important step in the GBD methodology standardization is in reallocating deaths attributed within ICD classifications without an underlying cause of death (for example, senility) which can be an intermediate but not final cause of death. These categories are termed as 'garbage codes'. GBD redistribute these garbage codes using a methodology explained in detail in Naghavi et al. (2010).{ref}Naghavi, M., Makela, S., Foreman, K., O'Brien, J., Pourmalek, F., & Lozano, R. (2010). Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data. <em>Population health metrics</em>, <em>8</em>(1), 9. Available <a href="https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1478-7954-8-9">online</a>.{/ref} Note that this redistributing of 'garbage codes' in some cases explains the difference in estimates between IHME and WHO, such as for road accident deaths (compared <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#road-accidents-ihme-vs-who-statistics">here</a>).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Death and death rate analyses are then carried out by the GBD researchers across all locations, all ages, both sexes and for the period from 1990 onwards based on its Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm). The full description of GBD methodology can be found <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32152-9.pdf">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Estimating the deaths attributed to risk factors</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Estimating the risk factors associated with millions of deaths around the world is a complex task — particularly when risk factors can compound and collectively influence the likelihood of disease and, eventually, death. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies – on which we largely rely on in this article – provide one of, if not the, most in-depth analysis and synthesis of relative risk factors.{ref}Iburg, K. M. (2017). Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. <em>Lancet</em>, <em>390</em>(10100), 1345-1422. Available <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf">online</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The GBD groups risk factors into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The central tool to estimate the impact of various risk factors is the Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) conceptual framework{ref}Murray, C. J., & Lopez, A. D. (1999). On the comparable quantification of health risks: lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study. <em>Epidemiology-Baltimore</em>, <em>10</em>(5), 594-605. Available <a href="http://www.portal.pmnch.org/quantifying_ehimpacts/methods/en/murray.pdf">online</a>.{/ref} which details how various risk factors affect health outcomes and ultimately death. For example, there is evidence of links between a higher body mass index (BMI) and the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke and some cancers.{ref}Romero-Corral, A., Montori, V. M., Somers, V. K., Korinek, J., Thomas, R. J., Allison, T. G., … & Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2006). Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies. <em>The Lancet</em>, <em>368</em>(9536), 666-678. Available <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673606692519">online</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wang, H. J., Si, Q. J., Shan, Z. L., Guo, Y. T., Lin, K., Zhao, X. N., & Wang, Y. T. (2015). Effects of body mass index on risks for ischemic stroke, thromboembolism, and mortality in Chinese atrial fibrillation patients: a single-center experience. <em>PloS one</em>, <em>10</em>(4), e0123516. Available <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123516">online</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bianchini, F., Kaaks, R., & Vainio, H. (2002). Overweight, obesity, and cancer risk. <em>The Lancet Oncology</em>, <em>3</em>(9), 565-574. Available <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470204502008495">online</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Such risk-outcome pairs (e.g. high BMI and ischemic stroke) are formed based on evidence from cohort studies, randomized trials, and case-control studies.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A key point to emphasise is that attributing deaths to risk factors necessarily implies making assumptions about the magnitude of the causal impact that each factor has on the probability of death, everything else equal. Establishing causal impacts this way is difficult. The GBD studies rely on state-of-the-art evidence from cohort, case studies and trials, but extrapolating from this evidence still requires making assumptions, with an implied margin of error. As scientific research advances, new evidence becomes available – the estimates from the GBD studies adapt, and become more precise when new academic research emerges.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>The risk factor estimates presented in this entry represent the 'attributable burden'</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Once a risk-outcome pair has been identified, how does IHME begin to quantify the disease burden or number of deaths attributed to each risk? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The CRA can be used for two different types of assessment, <em>attributable burden</em> and <em>avoidable burden</em>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li>The <strong><em>avoidable burden</em></strong> represents the potential burden avoided in the future if population exposure to a risk factor was to shift to a counterfactual level of exposure (for example, from its current level to a future scenario where tobacco smoking was eliminated). </li><li>The <strong><em>attributable burden</em></strong> is an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would have been achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed had been eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). It estimates the number of deaths associated with a risk factor as the difference between a hypothetical ideal world with no exposure to relevant risk factors with the actual exposure to risk factors. This methodology can be applied for the current number of deaths associated with different risk factors and in historical analyses of the past. The data presented in this article here is that of the attributable burden.</li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The estimation of the attributable burden effectively answers the question: "What would be the number of deaths from a specific cause of death – e.g. stroke or a specific cancer – if everyone's body-mass index (BMI) was reduced to a optimal, healthy level?" This healthy/optimal level is defined as the '<strong>theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL)</strong>'. Cohort, case studies and trials of established risk-exposure relationships between BMI and ischemic stroke allow for the calculation of the reduction in deaths which would have occurred if BMI was reduced to a healthy level across the population distribution. This relationship can be established by specific demographic groups, such as by sex or age. The difference between the number of deaths from ischemic stroke which would have occurred at the TMREL and at the actual BMI distribution is given as the number of deaths attributed to high BMI from ischemic stroke.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By completing this process for all risk-outcome pairs, IHME can sum to estimate the total number of deaths attributed to high BMI, and replicated for all risk factors using their individual risk-outcome exposure curves.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>The number of deaths attributed to different risk factors can not be summed up</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Note that this process of estimation is not additive; in other words, these risk-specific relationships do not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. High BMI, for example, may likely be present with other lifestyle factors such as low physical activity levels, high blood pressure, low fruit and vegetable intake. All of these estimates are developed independently. We cannot therefore sum all 'attributed deaths' and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For example, the chart <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-cardiovascular-diseases-by-risk-factor?time=2017">here</a> shows the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. 18 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in 2017. However, if you sum the deaths attributable to individual risk factors they will add up to more that 18 million. The reason is because these risk factors are calculated individually and the measurement does not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. E.g. people who eat less grains and fruits are also likely to have diets with higher proportion of processed fatty acids and lower proportion of fiber.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The full methodological explanation of the IHME's approach to risk factor attribution can be found <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Completeness of the registration of the cause of death</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This interactive map shows the share of deaths that have the <em>cause</em> of death information recorded. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is calculated as the number of deaths that have been registered with cause-of-death information in a country's vital registration system, divided by the total expected deaths in a given year. Expected deaths are estimated by the World Health Organziation (WHO) based on changes in mortality and demographic trends in a given country.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-cause-is-registered" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Data sources</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Data:</strong> Death rates, absolute number of premature deaths and DALYS across all risk factors and causes</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global, across all regions and countries</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> Most metrics available from 1990 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at: </strong>Online <a href="http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool">here</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Data:</strong> Causes-specific mortality by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global, by region and by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> Most metrics available from 2000 onwards in 5-year incrememnts</li><li><strong>Available at: </strong>Online <a href="http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index1.html">here</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Global Terrorism Database (GTD)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Terrorist attacks with 45-120 variables for each, including number of fatalities, injuries, weapons used, and perpetrators</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> 1970 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/" target="_blank">http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Amnesty International</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: International reports of executions</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> 2007 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> | {
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"text": "What caused their death? How did the causes of death change over time and differ between different countries and world regions? And what are the risk factors that lead to early death? These are the big questions we are answering here.",
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"text": " specific cause. In their own words: \u2018each death is attributed to a single underlying cause \u2014 the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death\u2019.{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) \u2013 Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980\u20132016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:",
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"text": ". And close to a million people are killed by other animals in any given year.{ref}Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: Malaria, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector.",
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"text": "One of the primary motivations for our work at Our World in Data is to provide a fact-based overview of the world we live in \u2014 a perspective that includes the persistent and long-term changes that run as a backdrop to our daily lives. We aim to provide the complement to the fast-paced reporting we see in the news. The media provides a near-instantaneous snapshot of single events; events that are, in most cases, negative. The persistent, large-scale trends of ",
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"text": "One study attempted to look at this from the perspective of what we die from: is what we actually die from reflected in the media coverage these topics receive?{ref}Shen et al. (2018).\u00a0Death: Reality vs Reported. Available at:\u00a0",
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"text": "For each source the authors calculated the relative share of deaths, share of Google searches, and share of media coverage. They restricted the considered causes to the top 10 causes of death in the US and additionally included terrorism, homicide, and drug overdoses.\u00a0This allows for us to compare the relative representation across different sources.{ref}All values are normalized to 100% so they represent their ",
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"text": ". All three receive much more relative attention in Google searches and media coverage than their relative share of deaths. When it comes to the media coverage on causes of death, violent deaths account for more than two-thirds of coverage in the ",
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"text": "What's interesting is that what Americans search on Google is a much closer reflection of what kills us than what is presented in the media. One way to think about it is that media outlets may produce content that they think readers are most interested in, but this is not necessarily reflected in our preferences when we look for information ourselves.",
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"text": ".{ref}The authors calculated this data annually from 1999 to 2016 (due to data availability, from 2004 onwards for Google Trends).{/ref}",
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"text": "As we can see clearly from the chart above, there is a disconnect between what we die from, and how much coverage these causes get in the media. Another way to summarize this discrepancy is to calculate how over- or underrepresented each cause is in the media. To do this, we simply calculate the ratio between the share of deaths and share of media coverage for each cause.",
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"text": "In this chart, we see how over- or underrepresented each cause is in newspaper coverage.{ref}Note here that these ratios are calculated based on the average of annual trends over the period 1999 to 2016 rather than the year 2016 alone.{/ref} Causes shown in red are overrepresented in the media; those in blue are underrepresented. Numbers denote the factor by which they are misrepresented.",
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"text": "The major standout here \u2013 I had to break the scale on the y-axis since it's several orders of magnitude higher than everything else \u2013 is terrorism: it is overrepresented in the\u00a0news by almost a factor of 4000.",
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"text": "Homicides are also very overrepresented in the news, by a factor of 31. The most underrepresented in the media are kidney disease (11-fold), heart disease (10-fold), and, perhaps surprisingly, drug overdoses (7-fold). Stroke and diabetes are the two causes most accurately represented.",
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"text": "From the comparisons above, it's clear that the news doesn't reflect what we die from. But there is another important question:\u00a0",
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"text": "There are several reasons we would, or should, expect that what we read online, and what is covered in the media wouldn't correspond with what we actually die from.",
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"text": "The first is that we would expect there to be some preventative aspect to information we access. There's a strong argument that things we search for and gain information on encourages us to take action which\u00a0prevents a further death. There are several examples where I can imagine this to be true. People who are concerned about cancer may search online for guidance on symptoms and be convinced to see their doctor. Some people with suicidal thoughts may seek help and support online which later results in an averted death from suicide. We'd therefore expect that both intended or unintended exposure to information on particular topics could prevent deaths from a given cause. Some imbalance in the relative proportions therefore makes sense. But clearly there is some bias in our concerns: most people die from heart disease (hence it should be something that concerns us) yet only a small minority seek [possibly preventative] information online.",
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"text": "Second, this study focused on what people in the USA die from, not what people across the world die from. Is media coverage more representative of global deaths? Not really. In another blog post, '",
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"text": "', I looked in detail at the ranking of causes of death globally and by country. The relative ranking of deaths in the USA is reflective of the global average: most people die from heart disease and cancers, and terrorism ranks last or second last (alongside ",
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"text": "The third relates to the very nature of news: it focuses on events and stories. Whilst I am often critical of the messages and narratives portrayed in the media, I have some sympathy for what they choose to cover. Reporting has become increasingly fast-paced. As news consumers, our expectations have quickly shifted from daily, to hourly, down to minute-by-minute updates of what's happening in the world. Combine this with our attraction to stories and narratives. It's not surprising that the media focuses on reports of single (inadvertently negative) events: a murder case or a terrorist attack. The most underrepresented cause of death in the media was kidney disease. But with an audience that expects a minute-by-minute feed of coverage, how much can possibly be said about kidney disease? Without conquering our compulsion for the latest unusual story, we cannot expect this representation to be perfectly balanced.",
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"text": "Media and its consumers are stuck in a reinforcing cycle. The news reports on breaking events, which are often based around a compelling story. Consumers want to know what's going on in the world\u00a0",
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"text": "we are quickly immersed by the latest headline. We come to expect news updates with increasing frequency, and media channels have clear incentives to deliver. This locks us into a cycle of expectation and coverage with a strong bias for outlier events. Most of us are left with a skewed perception of the world; we think the world is much worse than it is.{ref}There are many results which show we have a negative bias of global progress.\u00a0",
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"text": "As media consumers we can be much more aware of the fact that relying on the 24/7 news coverage alone is wholly insufficient for understanding the state of the world. This requires us to check our (often unconscious) bias for single narratives and seek out sources that provide a fact-based perspective on the world.",
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"text": "This antidote to the news is what we try to provide at Our World in Data. It should be accessible for everyone, which is why our work is completely open-access. Whether you are a media producer or consumer, feel free to take and use anything you find here.",
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"text": "The IHME's Global Burden of Disease (GBD) has developed a standardized approach to the attribution of deaths to specific causes.{ref}GBD 2017 Mortality Collaborators (2018) \u2013 Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950\u20132017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. In ",
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"text": ", Vol. 392, No. 10159 Published: November 10, 2018. DOI: ",
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"text": "{/ref} Data to estimate the causes of deaths is far from complete, particularly in poorer countries, and for this estimation the researchers therefore need to rely on various sources. These sources include vital registration (VR); verbal autopsy (VA); surveillance, census and survey data; cancer registries; and police records. GBD then develops a data standardization and processing methodology within which they define data quality and completeness scores, and where necessary\u00a0adjust completeness to 100% using cause fractions for a given location-age-sex-year and estimated all-cause mortality for that location-age-sex-year.",
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"text": "An important step in the GBD methodology standardization is in reallocating deaths attributed within ICD classifications without an underlying cause of death (for example, senility) which can be an intermediate but not final cause of death. These categories are termed as 'garbage codes'. GBD redistribute these garbage codes using a methodology explained in detail in Naghavi et al. (2010).{ref}Naghavi, M., Makela, S., Foreman, K., O'Brien, J., Pourmalek, F., & Lozano, R. (2010). Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data.\u00a0",
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"text": ".{/ref} Note that this redistributing of 'garbage codes' in some cases explains the difference in estimates between IHME and WHO, such as for road accident deaths (compared ",
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"text": "Death and death rate analyses are then carried out by the GBD researchers across all locations, all ages, both sexes and for the period from 1990 onwards based on its\u00a0Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm). The full description of GBD methodology can be found ",
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"text": "The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies \u2013 on which we largely rely on in this article \u2013 provide one of, if not the, most in-depth analysis and synthesis of relative risk factors.{ref}Iburg, K. M. (2017). Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990\u20132016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016.\u00a0",
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"text": "The central tool to estimate the impact of various risk factors is the Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) conceptual framework{ref}Murray, C. J., & Lopez, A. D. (1999). On the comparable quantification of health risks: lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study.\u00a0",
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"text": ".{/ref} which details how various risk factors affect health outcomes and ultimately death. For example, there is evidence of links between a higher body mass index (BMI) and the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke and some cancers.{ref}Romero-Corral, A., Montori, V. M., Somers, V. K., Korinek, J., Thomas, R. J., Allison, T. G., \u2026 & Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2006). Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies.\u00a0",
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"text": "Wang, H. J., Si, Q. J., Shan, Z. L., Guo, Y. T., Lin, K., Zhao, X. N., & Wang, Y. T. (2015). Effects of body mass index on risks for ischemic stroke, thromboembolism, and mortality in Chinese atrial fibrillation patients: a single-center experience.\u00a0",
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"text": "Such risk-outcome pairs (e.g. high BMI and ischemic stroke) are formed based on evidence from cohort studies, randomized trials, and case-control studies.",
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"text": "A key point to emphasise is that attributing deaths to risk factors necessarily implies making assumptions about the magnitude of the causal impact that each factor has on the probability of death, everything else equal.\u00a0Establishing causal impacts this way is difficult. The GBD studies rely on state-of-the-art evidence from cohort, case studies and trials, but extrapolating from this evidence still requires making assumptions, with an implied margin of error. As scientific research advances, new evidence becomes available \u2013 the estimates from the GBD studies adapt, and become more precise when new academic research emerges.",
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"text": " shows the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. 18 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in 2017. However, if you sum the deaths attributable to individual risk factors they will add up to more that 18 million. The reason is because these risk factors are calculated individually and the measurement does not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. E.g. people who eat less grains and fruits are also likely to have diets with higher proportion of processed fatty acids and lower proportion of fiber.",
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2018-02-14 11:49:58 | 2024-02-16 14:22:39 | [
"Hannah Ritchie",
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How did the causes of death change over time? | 2019-12-13 14:54:33 | 2023-09-05 11:14:47 | https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause-3.png | {} |
This article was first published in February 2018. Last updated in December 2019. Around 56 million people die each year.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in [this chart](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group).{/ref} What caused their death? How did the causes of death change over time and differ between different countries and world regions? And what are the risk factors that lead to early death? These are the big questions we are answering here. **Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors** It is important to understand what is meant by the _cause_ of death and the _risk factor_ associated with a premature death: In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has _one_ specific cause. In their own words: ‘each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death’.{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) – Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:[https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9){/ref} This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). [Below](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement), in our section on Measurement, you find a more detailed explanation. ## What do people die from? 56 million people died in 2017.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in [this chart](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group).{/ref} What did they die from? The _Global Burden of Disease_ is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal _The Lancet_.{ref} The latest study can be found at the website of the Lancet here: [TheLancet.com/GBD](https://www.thelancet.com/gbd) The 2017 study was published as in the following publication: “Roth, G. A., Abate, D., Abate, K. H., Abay, S. M., Abbafati, C., Abbasi, N., … & Abdollahpour, I. (2018). Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. _The Lancet_, 392(10159), 1736-1788″, and is online [here](http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-age-sex-specific-mortality-282-causes-death-195).{/ref} These estimates of the annual number of deaths by cause are shown here. This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the "change country" toggle. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) not only dominate mortality figures at a global level, but also account for the majority of deaths in high-income countries. Deaths from causes such as infectious disease, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies, neonatal and maternal deaths are common – and in some cases dominant – across low- and middle-income nations. In Kenya, for example, the leading cause of death remains diarrheal diseases. In South Africa and Botswana, the leading cause of death is HIV/AIDS. In high-income countries however the share of deaths caused by these is very low. Using the timeline on the chart you can also explore how deaths by cause have changed over time. Death rates related to disease, illness and other health factors tend to change relatively slowly over time. Whilst death rates may fall or decline from year-to-year as part of a general trend, dramatic changes in such deaths are typically rare. [Natural disaster](https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters) and [terrorism-related deaths](https://owid.cloud/terrorism) are an important exception to this rule, as they can vary significantly between countries. This can make the annual comparison of deaths and death rates between health-related factors and volatile events more challenging. Understanding the relative risk of these events can require a longer-term overview of high and low-mortality years. We cover discussion and analysis on this topic in a post [here](https://ourworldindata.org/is-it-fair-to-compare-terrorism-and-disaster-with-other-causes-of-death/). ### undefined undefined https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-by-cause <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause"/> ## Causes of death by category #### The share of deaths from infectious diseases are declining; a larger share is dying from NCDs In the visualization we see the distribution of global deaths broken down by three broad categories: 0. Injuries caused by road accidents, [homicides](https://owid.cloud/homicides), [conflict deaths](https://owid.cloud/war-and-peace), drowning, fire-related accidents, [natural disasters](https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters) and [suicides](https://owid.cloud/suicide). 1. Non-communicable diseases. These are often chronic, long-term illnesses and include cardiovascular diseases (including stroke), [cancers](https://owid.cloud/cancer), diabetes and _chronic _respiratory diseases (such as chronic pulmonary disease and asthma, but excluding infectious respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza). 2. Communicable diseases (i.e. infectious diseases) such as [HIV/AIDS](https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids), [malaria](https://owid.cloud/malaria), and tuberculosis together with [maternal deaths](https://owid.cloud/maternal-mortality), [neonatal deaths](https://owid.cloud/child-mortality) and [deaths from malnutrition](https://owid.cloud/hunger-and-undernourishment). This is shown for global deaths as the default, but can be viewed for any country or region using the "change country" toggle on the interactive chart. At a global level we see that the majority of deaths are caused by [non-communicable diseases](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/) (NCDs). Collectively NCDs account for more than 73% of global deaths. As the world is making progress in the fight against many infectious diseases, and as [populations age](https://owid.cloud/age-structure), we expect that NCDs will become increasingly dominant as the cause of death. ### undefined undefined https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/age-standardized-death-rate-by-cause <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-number-of-deaths-by-cause?stackMode=relative"/> ## Causes of death by age ### Breakdown of deaths by age #### Fewer people die at a young age In this chart we see the breakdown of deaths by age bracket. Globally fewer and fewer people die at a young age. In 2017, there were 56.5 million deaths globally; just over half of these were people who were 70 years or older; 26% were between 50 and 69 years old; 13% were between 15 and 49; only 1% were older than 5 and younger than 14; and almost 9% were children under the age of 5. The age at which people die has changed significantly since 1990. Fewer people die at a young age. In 1990 nearly one-quarter of all deaths were in children younger than 5. In 2019, this had declined to just under 9%. In contrast, the share of deaths in the over-70s age bracket has increased from a third to half of all deaths over this period. It is possible to change this chart to any other country or region in the world. In countries with good health the share dying at a young age is very low. In Japan more than 85% are 70 years or older. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group?stackMode=relative"/> #### Causes of deaths of children younger than 5 This chart shows the number of deaths in children under 5 years old by cause. Through the combination of neonatal (newborn infants less than 28 days old) disorders, infections and congenital (from birth) defects, we see that the largest share of deaths in under-5s arises from complications at birth or in the first few weeks of life. Under-5s are also highly susceptible to lower respiratory infections, infectious diseases, diarrheal infections, malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies. This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the “change country” toggle. Death rates in under-5s are typically much lower in high-income countries, and the nature of these deaths is different from lower incomes. In the United Kingdom, for example, child deaths tend to be highly dominated by neonatal complications. Deaths from infectious and diarrheal diseases and malnutrition is very low. In contrast, infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies are large causes of death in lower-income countries. ### Child & Infant Mortality You can explore causes of death in children and our progress against them in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/child-mortality <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-in-under-5s"/> #### Causes of deaths for children between 5 and 14 This visualization shows the causes of deaths of children who died between the age of 5 and 14 year. Globally, deaths in the 5-14 year old age bracket account for a small percentage of the total (1-2%). There are six dominant causes of deaths in this age category. The leading causes globally in 5-14 year olds are road accidents, cancers and malaria. Lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, and drowning are all dominant causes typically in the range of 40,000-50,000 deaths in 2017. Again, this distribution varies by country. In the United States, for example, cancers are the leading cause of death. In India, it’s diarrheal diseases; in Bangladesh and China it’s drowning; and in South Africa HIV/AIDS. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-5-14-year-olds"/> #### Causes of deaths for 15 to 49 year olds This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 15 and 49. In the 15 to 49 years old category, we see that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) begin to become dominant. Globally the leading cause of death in this age group is cardiovascular disease, followed cancers which both account for more than one million deaths. Road accidents, HIV/AIDS and suicide are all significant within this group. For some countries, such as South Africa, by far the dominant cause of death is HIV/AIDS in 15 to 49 year olds. In a number of countries (in particular across Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico), homicide is the dominant cause for 15-49 years old. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-15-49-year-olds"/> #### Causes of deaths for 50 to 69 year olds This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 50 and 69. In 50 to 69 year olds, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are strongly dominant — here cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory disease and diabetes are the top causes. With the exception of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis which for some countries climb into the top causes, the global variability in death causes for 50-69 year olds is much lower than that of younger age categories. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-50-69-year-olds"/> #### Causes of deaths for people who were older than 69 years This visualization shows the causes of death of people who were 70 years and older at the time of their death. For the oldest age category (70 years and older), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) still dominate, however other death causes including Alzheimer's/dementias, and diarrheal diseases also become dominant. Diarrheal diseases remain within the few leading causes of deaths in 70+ year olds for many low-income countries, despite being relatively low at higher incomes. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-70-year-olds"/> ## Risk factors for death It is important to understand what is meant by the _cause_ of death and the _risk factor_ associated with a premature death: In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has _one_ specific cause. In their own words: ‘each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death’. This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). Risk factors can be grouped into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks. All of these estimates are developed independently. This means that we cannot sum all ‘attributed deaths’ and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death. [Below](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement), in our section on Measurement, we describe in more detail how the epidemiologists of the Global Burden of Disease study attribute risk factors to mortality. #### The number of deaths by risk factor The estimates shown in this visualization show the numbers of deaths attributed to specific risk factors in 2017. Here we see that there are several dominant risk factors for death: notably, those related to dietary and activity lifestyle factors (including blood pressure, physical activity, body-mass index, blood sugar, and dietary intake); smoking; air pollution (both outdoor and indoor); environmental factors including clean water and sanitation; and safe sex (for the prevention of HIV/AIDS). This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the “change country” toggle. The contribution of specific risk factors varies significantly by country. For most high-income countries, the dominant risk factors are those related to healthy diets, smoking and alcohol intake. Other risk factors such as clean water, sanitation, and child wasting or stunting are very low. In low-income countries the inverse is true: in Sierra Leone for example, the top risk factors include child wasting, household air pollution, unsafe water source, poor sanitation, and the lack of access to handwashing facilities. For countries where HIV/AIDS is a major health burden, such as South Africa and Kenya, unsafe sex is the top risk factor. The data here is measured across all age groups and both sexes — figures for specific age groups are detailed below. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor"/> ## Additional information #### Risk factors of death in under-5s <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-under5s"/> #### Risk factors for death in 5-14 year olds <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-5-14years"/> #### Risk factors for death in 15-49 year olds <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-15-49years"/> #### Risk factors for death in 50-69 year olds <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-50-69years"/> #### Risk factors for death in 70+ year olds <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-factor-over-70"/> ## Cause by cause ### Cardiovascular diseases Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a term used to refer to the [range of diseases](http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/about_cvd/en/) which affect the heart and blood vessels. These include hypertension (high blood pressure); coronary heart disease (heart attack); cerebrovascular disease (stroke); heart failure; and other heart diseases. Cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally. In the map we see death rates from cardiovascular diseases across the world. Overall we see a strong East-West divide in CVD death rates. Rates across North America and Western/Northern Europe tend to be significantly lower than those across Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Across most of Latin America, these rates are moderate. In France, for example, the age-standardized rate was around 86 per 100,000 in 2017; across Eastern Europe this rate was around 5 times higher at 400-500 per 100,000. At the highest end of the scale, Uzbekistan had a rate of 724 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Cardiovascular disease deaths by age In the visualization we see the breakdown of deaths from CVD by age category. Globally we see that approximately 17.8 million people died from CVD. The majority (64 percent) of deaths occurred in the age bracket of 70 years and above. Just below 30 percent were aged 50-69, and the remaining were aged 15-49 (CVD deaths in those aged 14 years and under are small). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-deaths-by-age"/> #### Cardiovascular disease death rates by age In the chart we see the CVD death rate per 100,000 differentiated by age categories. As established in the breakdown of CVD deaths by age, the majority of deaths occur in the 70+ years old age category. Death rates are therefore significantly higher in the oldest age group at over 2600 per 100,000 in 2016. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates-by-age"/> ### Cancers Cancers are defined by the [National Cancer Institute](https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer) as a collection of diseases in which abnormal cells can divide and spread to nearby tissue. Cancers can arise in many parts of the body – leading to a range of cancer types, as shown below – and in some cases spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. In the map we see cancer death rates across the world. ### Cancers You can explore global, regional and country-level data on cancer prevalence, deaths, and survival rates in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/cancer <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rates?tab=map"/> ### Dementia Dementia comprises several forms — the most common being Alzheimer's disease — is [an illness](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs362/en/) which results in a deterioration of cognitive capacity and function beyond what is expect from the normal ageing process. It can occur either in a chronic or progressive form. It affects several cognitive functions including memory, comprehension, judgement, language and learning capacity. In the map we see death rates from dementia across the world. Note that these rates have been age-standardized which aims to correct for differences in the age structure of a population (which are different between countries and change over time). This therefore allows us to compare the likelihood that any given individual will die from dementia across countries and through time. Across most countries, the death rate from dementia-related illness is below 55 per 100,000 individuals. Dementia rates in some countries have changed slightly since 1990, but significantly less so than other disease burdens. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Dementia deaths by age The chart shows the breakdown of dementia-related deaths by age group. Dementia typically occurs in older persons: of the 2.4 million who died from dementia in 2017, 94 percent were 70 years or older. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-related-deaths-by-age"/> ### Diarrheal diseases Diarrheal diseases are caused primarily by viral and bacterial pathogens. They are particularly dominant at lower incomes where there is poor access to safe [sanitation](https://owid.cloud/sanitation), [drinking water](https://owid.cloud/water-access) and hygiene facilities. Diarrheal diseases are a [leading cause](https://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases#diarrheal-diseases-are-one-of-the-biggest-killers-of-children-worldwide) of death in children. In the map we see death rates from diarrheal diseases across the world. ### Diarrheal diseases You can explore global, regional and country-level data on diarrheal diseases in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/diarrheal-diseases <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/diarrheal-disease-death-rates"/> ### Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is [an illness](https://web.archive.org/web/20180418014606/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/) caused by the ingestion of bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which affects the lungs. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that up to one-quarter of the global population has latent TB, meaning they have been infected with the disease but are not ill with the disease (although this does not inhibit it from becoming active in the future). People with compromised immune systems, such as those suffering from malnutrition, diabetes, or are smokers are more likely to become ill with TB. There is a strong link between [HIV/AIDS](https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids) and TB: those infected with HIV are 20-30 times more likely to develop active tuberculosis. In the map we see death rates from tuberculosis across the world. Across most countries, the death rate from TB is below 5 per 100,000. Rates in 2017 across Eastern Europe were slightly higher, between 5-10 per 100,000. Across South Asia, these reach 25-50 per 100,000, with highest rates across Sub-Saharan Africa ranging from 50 to over 250 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Tuberculosis deaths by age In the chart we see the breakdown of deaths from tuberculosis by age category. At a global level there has been a 25% drop in TB deaths, falling from 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2017. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-deaths-by-age"/> #### Tuberculosis death rates by age In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates from TB by age category. Here we see that death rates from TB are highest in the 70+ years old age category, followed by 50-69 year olds. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates-by-age"/> ### Malnutrition Malnutrition arises in various forms, with the broad definition capturing undernourishment, [micronutrient deficiencies](https://ourworldindata.org/micronutrient-deficiency) and [obesity](https://ourworldindata.org/obesity). In this case, we refer to '[protein-energy malnutrition](http://www.fao.org/docrep/W0073e/w0073e05.htm#P2919_330117)' (PEM) which refers to energy or protein deficiency caused by insufficient food intake. Protein-energy deficiency can also be exacerbated by infection or disease, which can have the effect of increasing nutritional needs, and/or reducing the body's ability to retain energy or nutrients. You can find more information on hunger and undernourishment in [our entry](https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment). In the map we see death rates from protein-energy malnutrition across the world. The highest rates are seen across across Sub-Saharan Africa, which are typically in the range of 10-100 per 100,000 individuals. For most countries, this rate is below 5 per 100,000. In North Korea during its famine period, rates reached over 400 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Malnutrition deaths by age In the chart we see the annual number of deaths attributed to protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), differentiated by age group. Globally there were approximately 232,000 deaths related to PEM. Children under 5 years old are disproportionately affected by PEM (accounting for 61 percent of global deaths) — child [wasting](https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-weight-for-height-wasting) (too little weight for one's height) and [stunting](https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-height-for-age-stunting) (too short for one's age) is a common symptom of malnutrition. Global protein-energy malnutrition deaths have declined since 1990. However, we see the dramatic impact of the North Korean [famine](https://ourworldindata.org/famines) through the 1990s.{ref}Spoorenberg, T., & Schwekendiek, D. (2012). Demographic changes in north Korea: 1993–2008. _Population and Development Review_, _38_(1), 133-158. Available [online](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x/full).{/ref} <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-deaths-by-age"/> #### Malnutrition death rates by age In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates by age category. As with the total number of deaths by age, rates in children under 5 years old are highest; at a global level, these have fallen by around two-thirds from 63 to 20 per 100,000 since 1990. Rates for those over 70 years old are also relatively high, at 12 per 100,000 (although this decline over time has been less significant). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates-by-age"/> ### HIV/AIDS An infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). AIDS results in a gradual and persistent decline and failure of the immune system, resulting in heightened risk of life-threatening infection and [cancers](https://ourworldindata.org/cancer). In the majority of cases, HIV is a sexually-transmitted infection. However, HIV can also be transmitted from a mother to her child, during pregnancy or childbirth, or through breastfeeding. Non-sexual transmission can also occur through the sharing of injection equipment such as needles. In the map we see death rates from HIV/AIDS across the world. Most countries have a rate of less than 10 deaths per 100,000 – often much lower, below 5 per 100,000. Across Europe the death rate is less than one per 100,000. Across Sub-Saharan Africa the rates are much higher. Most countries in the South of the region had rates greater than 100 per 100,000. In South Africa and Mozambique, it was over 200 per 100,000. ### HIV/AIDS You can explore global, regional and country-level data on HIV prevalence, deaths, and treatment in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/hiv-death-rates"/> ### Malaria Malaria is a disease that is transmitted from person to person by infected mosquitoes. The bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito transmits a parasite that enters the victim’s blood system and travels into the person’s liver where the parasite reproduces. There the parasite causes a high fever that involves shaking chills and pain. In the worst cases malaria leads to coma and death. In the map we see death rates from malaria across the world. ### Malaria You can explore global, regional and country-level data on malaria prevalence, deaths, and treatments in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/malaria <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malaria-death-rates"/> ### Smoking Tobacco smoking is not a direct cause of death, but it nonetheless one of the world's largest health problems. Smoking is one of the world's leading risk factors for premature death. Tobacco a risk factor for several of the world’s leading causes of death, including lung and other forms of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. In the map we see death rates from tobacco smoking across the world. ### Smoking You can explore global, regional and country-level data on the prevalence of smoking, its health impacts and attributed deaths in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/smoking <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-smoking?tab=map"/> ### Suicide Every suicide is a tragedy. With timely, evidence-based interventions, suicides can be prevented.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). _[Preventing suicide: A global imperative](https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/131056/9789241564779_eng.pdf)_. World Health Organization.{/ref} In the map we see death rates from suicide across the world. ### Suicide You can explore global, regional and country-level data on deaths from suicide in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/suicide <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/suicide-death-rates"/> ### Homicides Intentional homicides are defined as “an unlawful death deliberately inflicted on one person by another person".{ref}OECD (2011) – How’s Life? Measuring Well-being: Measuring Well-being.{/ref} Civilian and military deaths during [interstate wars](https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/), [civil wars](https://ourworldindata.org/civil-wars) and [genocides](https://ourworldindata.org/genocides/) are not counted as homicides – but _Our World in Data_ presents the evidence on deaths in the linked articles. In the map we see homicide rates across the world. ### Homicides You can explore global, regional and country-level data on homicides in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/homicides <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people"/> ### Natural disasters Natural disasters can occur in many forms – ranging from earthquakes and tsunamis, to extreme weather events, and heatwaves. The largest disaster events are often infrequent, but high-impact meaning there is significant variability in deaths from year-to-year. In the the map we see death rates from natural disasters across the world. ### Natural disasters You can explore data on the number, costs and deaths from natural disasters in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-disasters"/> ### Road incidents Road incident deaths include those of drivers – motor vehicles and motorcyclists – in addition to cyclists and pedestrian deaths. In the map we see death rates from road incidents across the world. Death rates are typically lowest across Western Europe and Japan, with less than 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. Across the Americas, rates are typically slightly higher at 5 to 20; most countries in Asia lie between 15 and 30; and rates are typically highest across Sub-Saharan Africa with over 25 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-road-accidents"/> ## Additional information #### Motor vehicle, motorcyclist, cyclist & pedestrian deaths Road incident deaths include those from motor vehicles (including drivers and passengers within the car), pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. In the chart we see the breakdown of these deaths by category. The total number of road deaths increased during the 1990s and early 2000s before roughly plateauing since then (with a small decline in recent years). The largest share of deaths at the global level are pedestrians (with 39 percent of the share), closely followed by those in motor vehicles (36 percent); motorcyclists (18 percent); and cyclists (6 percent). This share has remained fairly consistent with time. This breakdown varies significantly across the world, however. In India and Brazil, for example, a much larger share (31 and 33 percent respectively) are motorcyclists. In the United States 68 percent are motor vehicle passengers or drivers. In China, 58 percent are pedestrians. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-deaths-by-type"/> #### Road incident deaths by age In the chart we see the breakdown of road accident deaths by age category. The largest share of deaths at a global level are within the 15-49 year old category with 54% of the total. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-accident-deaths-by-age"/> #### Road incident death rates by age In the chart we see the breakdown of death rates from road incidents by age category. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-death-rates-by-age"/> ### Drowning The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasises that drowning is one of the most overlooked, preventable causes of death across the world.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). _Global report on drowning: preventing a leading killer_. World Health Organization. Available [online](http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/143893/1/9789241564786_eng.pdf).{/ref} For every country in the world, drowning is among the top 10 killers for children. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, it is the top mortality cause for children under 15 years old. In the map we see death rates from drowning across the world. In 2016, death rates were highest in Papua New Guinea and Seychelles, between 10 to 16 deaths per 100,000. Rates were also high in countries such as Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Vietnam, and Haiti. If we look at death rates we see a significant decline since 1990 — especially in low to middle-income countries. In Bangladesh and China, for example, rates have fallen by more than two-thirds over this period. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Drowning deaths by age group In the chart we see the breakdown of annual drowning deaths by age group. At a global level we see drowning deaths have declined around 45 percent from 530,000 in 1990 to 300,000 in 2017. The most dramatic decline is seen in under-5s, where deaths have fallen from 209,000 to just over 60,000 over this period. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-deaths-by-age-group"/> #### Drowning death rates by age In the visualization we see the relative death rates from drowning across age groups. Here we see that both the young (under 5s) and old (70+ years old) are at highest risk of death from drowning. Most striking is the dramatic decline in death rates for under-5s. This has fallen by more than two-thirds since 1990, decreasing from 32 to 9 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates-by-age"/> ### Fire In the map we see death rates from fire across the world. Most countries across the Americas, Western Europe, East Asia and Oceania average death rates below 2 per 100,000. Rates across other regions are typically higher at 2-6 per 100,000. When viewed through time we see a notable decline in fire death rates, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates"/> ## Additional information #### Fire deaths by age The chart shows the annual deaths from fire or burning incidents broken down by age group. In 2017, there were around 121,000 global deaths from fire which represents a slight decline from the mid-1990s when deaths reached over 150,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-deaths-by-age-group"/> #### Fire deaths rates by age In the visualization we see the relative death rates between age categories. At the global level, those 70 years and above are typically at the highest risk with 7 per 100,000. Next is those under 5 years old, but with a significant drop in death rate to 2-3 per 100,000. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates-by-age"/> ### Terrorism Terrorism [is defined](https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/terrorism) in the Oxford Dictionary as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” We quickly see that this definition is unspecific and subjective.{ref}Teichman, J. (1989). How to define terrorism. _Philosophy_, _64_(250), 505-517.{/ref} In our full article on _Terrorism_[we look at](https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism#what-is-terrorism) adopted definitions, and how it's distinguished from other forms of violence. In the map we see death rates from terrorism across the world. ### Terrorism You can explore data on the number of terrorist attacks and deaths in our full article here. https://owid.cloud/terrorism <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fatalities-from-terrorism"/> ### Deaths by animal #### Mosquitoes are by far the world's deadliest animal Around 1.5 million people are killed by animals every year. More than half a million are killed by other humans – in [war](https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace), [homicides](https://ourworldindata.org/homicides), and [terrorism](https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism). And close to a million people are killed by other animals in any given year.{ref}Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: Malaria, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector. Snake and scorpion deaths are based on IHME fatality estimates from venomous animal contact. Dog deaths are the sum of deaths from rabies and estimates of dog attacks. Deaths by shark and crocodile are summarised annually in updated databases. Figures from remaining animals (without an attributed disease) are typically not recorded annually, but are provided as average estimates from sources including the UN FAO, National Geographic, WWF and Gates Notes. Deaths from humans is defined as the sum of homicide, conflict and terrorism deaths.{/ref} Mosquitoes are, by far, the world's deadliest animal for humans: at estimated 780,000 died from the transmission of disease from mosquitoes in 2016. Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: [Malaria](https://owid.cloud/malaria), Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector. <Image filename="Deadliest-animals-01.png" alt=""/> ## Does the news reflect what we die from? One of the primary motivations for our work at Our World in Data is to provide a fact-based overview of the world we live in — a perspective that includes the persistent and long-term changes that run as a backdrop to our daily lives. We aim to provide the complement to the fast-paced reporting we see in the news. The media provides a near-instantaneous snapshot of single events; events that are, in most cases, negative. The persistent, large-scale trends of [progress](https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts) never make the headlines. But is there evidence that such a disconnect exists between what we see in the news and what is reality for most of us? One study attempted to look at this from the perspective of what we die from: is what we actually die from reflected in the media coverage these topics receive?{ref}Shen et al. (2018). Death: Reality vs Reported. Available at: [https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/](https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/).{/ref} To answer this, Shen and his team compared four key sources of data: * the causes of deaths in the USA (statistics published by the [CDC's WONDER public health database](https://wonder.cdc.gov/)) * Google search trends for causes of deaths (sourced from [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US)) * mentions of causes of deaths in the _New York Times_ (sourced from the [NYT article database](https://developer.nytimes.com/)) * mentions of causes of deaths in _The Guardian_ newspaper (sourced from [The Guardian article database](http://open-platform.theguardian.com/)) For each source the authors calculated the relative share of deaths, share of Google searches, and share of media coverage. They restricted the considered causes to the top 10 causes of death in the US and additionally included terrorism, homicide, and drug overdoses. This allows for us to compare the relative representation across different sources.{ref}All values are normalized to 100% so they represent their _relative_ share of the top causes, rather than absolute counts (e.g. ‘deaths’ represents each cause's share of deaths within the 13 categories shown rather than its share of total deaths; the 13 categories here account for approximately 88% of total US deaths).{/ref} #### What we die from; what we Google; what we read in the news So, what do the results look like? In the chart here I present the comparison. The first column represents each cause's share of US deaths; the second the share of Google searches each receives; third, the relative article mentions in the _New York Times;_ and finally article mentions in _The Guardian_. The coverage in both newspapers here is strikingly similar. And the discrepancy between what we actually die from and what we get informed of in the media is what stands out: * around one-third of the considered causes of deaths resulted from heart disease, yet this cause of death receives only 2-3 percent of Google searches and media coverage; * just under one-third of the deaths came from cancer; we actually Google cancer a lot (37 percent of searches) and [it is a popular entry](https://owid.cloud/cancer) here on our site; but it receives only 13-14 percent of media coverage; * we searched for road incidents more frequently than their share of deaths; however, they receive much less attention in the news; * when it comes to deaths from strokes, Google searches and media coverage are surprisingly balanced; * the largest discrepancies concern violent forms of death: [suicide](https://ourworldindata.org/suicide), [homicide](https://owid.cloud/homicides) and [terrorism](https://owid.cloud/terrorism). All three receive much more relative attention in Google searches and media coverage than their relative share of deaths. When it comes to the media coverage on causes of death, violent deaths account for more than two-thirds of coverage in the _New York Times_ and _The Guardian_ but account for less than 3 percent of the total deaths in the US. What's interesting is that what Americans search on Google is a much closer reflection of what kills us than what is presented in the media. One way to think about it is that media outlets may produce content that they think readers are most interested in, but this is not necessarily reflected in our preferences when we look for information ourselves. [_Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution; The chart shows the summary for the year 2016, but interactive charts for all available years are available at [the end of this blog](https://ourworldindata.org/does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from#additional-information).{ref}The authors calculated this data annually from 1999 to 2016 (due to data availability, from 2004 onwards for Google Trends).{/ref}_] <Image filename="Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png" alt=""/> #### How over- or underrepresented are deaths in the media? As we can see clearly from the chart above, there is a disconnect between what we die from, and how much coverage these causes get in the media. Another way to summarize this discrepancy is to calculate how over- or underrepresented each cause is in the media. To do this, we simply calculate the ratio between the share of deaths and share of media coverage for each cause. In this chart, we see how over- or underrepresented each cause is in newspaper coverage.{ref}Note here that these ratios are calculated based on the average of annual trends over the period 1999 to 2016 rather than the year 2016 alone.{/ref} Causes shown in red are overrepresented in the media; those in blue are underrepresented. Numbers denote the factor by which they are misrepresented. The major standout here – I had to break the scale on the y-axis since it's several orders of magnitude higher than everything else – is terrorism: it is overrepresented in the news by almost a factor of 4000. Homicides are also very overrepresented in the news, by a factor of 31. The most underrepresented in the media are kidney disease (11-fold), heart disease (10-fold), and, perhaps surprisingly, drug overdoses (7-fold). Stroke and diabetes are the two causes most accurately represented. [_Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution_]. <Image filename="Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png" alt=""/> #### _Should_ media exposure reflect what we die from? From the comparisons above, it's clear that the news doesn't reflect what we die from. But there is another important question: _should_ these be representative? There are several reasons we would, or should, expect that what we read online, and what is covered in the media wouldn't correspond with what we actually die from. The first is that we would expect there to be some preventative aspect to information we access. There's a strong argument that things we search for and gain information on encourages us to take action which prevents a further death. There are several examples where I can imagine this to be true. People who are concerned about cancer may search online for guidance on symptoms and be convinced to see their doctor. Some people with suicidal thoughts may seek help and support online which later results in an averted death from suicide. We'd therefore expect that both intended or unintended exposure to information on particular topics could prevent deaths from a given cause. Some imbalance in the relative proportions therefore makes sense. But clearly there is some bias in our concerns: most people die from heart disease (hence it should be something that concerns us) yet only a small minority seek [possibly preventative] information online. Second, this study focused on what people in the USA die from, not what people across the world die from. Is media coverage more representative of global deaths? Not really. In another blog post, '[What does the world die from?](https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from)', I looked in detail at the ranking of causes of death globally and by country. The relative ranking of deaths in the USA is reflective of the global average: most people die from heart disease and cancers, and terrorism ranks last or second last (alongside [natural disasters](https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters)). Terrorism accounted for 0.06 percent of global deaths in 2016. Whilst we'd expect non-US events to feature in the_ New York Times, _global news shouldn't substantially affect representative coverage of causes. The third relates to the very nature of news: it focuses on events and stories. Whilst I am often critical of the messages and narratives portrayed in the media, I have some sympathy for what they choose to cover. Reporting has become increasingly fast-paced. As news consumers, our expectations have quickly shifted from daily, to hourly, down to minute-by-minute updates of what's happening in the world. Combine this with our attraction to stories and narratives. It's not surprising that the media focuses on reports of single (inadvertently negative) events: a murder case or a terrorist attack. The most underrepresented cause of death in the media was kidney disease. But with an audience that expects a minute-by-minute feed of coverage, how much can possibly be said about kidney disease? Without conquering our compulsion for the latest unusual story, we cannot expect this representation to be perfectly balanced. #### How to combat our bias for single events Media and its consumers are stuck in a reinforcing cycle. The news reports on breaking events, which are often based around a compelling story. Consumers want to know what's going on in the world **— **we are quickly immersed by the latest headline. We come to expect news updates with increasing frequency, and media channels have clear incentives to deliver. This locks us into a cycle of expectation and coverage with a strong bias for outlier events. Most of us are left with a skewed perception of the world; we think the world is much worse than it is.{ref}There are many results which show we have a negative bias of global progress. _[Factfulness](https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness-book/), _published by the Roslings, is packed with public survey results of Gapminder's [Ignorance Test](https://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/). The test shows that the vast majority of people get the most basic questions on global development wrong (nearly always thinking the world is in a worst state than it is).{/ref} The responsibility in breaking this cycle lies with both media producers and consumers. Will we ever stop reporting and reading the latest news? Unlikely. But we can all be more conscious of how we let this news shape our understanding of the world. And journalists can do much better in providing context of the broader trends: if reporting on a homicide, for example, include context of [how homicide rates are changing](https://owid.cloud/homicides) over time.{ref}In many countries they [have been falling](https://ourworldindata.org/homicides#homicide-rates).{/ref} As media consumers we can be much more aware of the fact that relying on the 24/7 news coverage alone is wholly insufficient for understanding the state of the world. This requires us to check our (often unconscious) bias for single narratives and seek out sources that provide a fact-based perspective on the world. This antidote to the news is what we try to provide at Our World in Data. It should be accessible for everyone, which is why our work is completely open-access. Whether you are a media producer or consumer, feel free to take and use anything you find here. ## Additional information ## Definitions and measurement In this article we rely largely on the estimates presented in the _Global Burden of Disease (GBD)_ studies that are produced under the leadership of the _Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation_. The study is published in _The Lancet_ at [TheLancet.com/GBD](https://www.thelancet.com/gbd) and is the most regularly updated; comprehensive; and most in-depth analysis and synthesis of the causes and risk factors of death worldwide. ### Estimating the causes of death The IHME's Global Burden of Disease (GBD) has developed a standardized approach to the attribution of deaths to specific causes.{ref}GBD 2017 Mortality Collaborators (2018) – Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. In _The Lancet_, Vol. 392, No. 10159 Published: November 10, 2018. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9){/ref} Their methodology states that "each death is attributed to a single underlying cause — the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death—in accordance with ICD principles".{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) – Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:[https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9){/ref} Data to estimate the causes of deaths is far from complete, particularly in poorer countries, and for this estimation the researchers therefore need to rely on various sources. These sources include vital registration (VR); verbal autopsy (VA); surveillance, census and survey data; cancer registries; and police records. GBD then develops a data standardization and processing methodology within which they define data quality and completeness scores, and where necessary adjust completeness to 100% using cause fractions for a given location-age-sex-year and estimated all-cause mortality for that location-age-sex-year. The GBD assessment is strongly tied to the mortality cause categories as defined within the [International Classification of Diseases (ICD)](http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/) codes, as used by the World Health Organization (WHO). An important step in the GBD methodology standardization is in reallocating deaths attributed within ICD classifications without an underlying cause of death (for example, senility) which can be an intermediate but not final cause of death. These categories are termed as 'garbage codes'. GBD redistribute these garbage codes using a methodology explained in detail in Naghavi et al. (2010).{ref}Naghavi, M., Makela, S., Foreman, K., O'Brien, J., Pourmalek, F., & Lozano, R. (2010). Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data. _Population health metrics_, _8_(1), 9. Available [online](https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1478-7954-8-9).{/ref} Note that this redistributing of 'garbage codes' in some cases explains the difference in estimates between IHME and WHO, such as for road accident deaths (compared [here](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#road-accidents-ihme-vs-who-statistics)). Death and death rate analyses are then carried out by the GBD researchers across all locations, all ages, both sexes and for the period from 1990 onwards based on its Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm). The full description of GBD methodology can be found [here](http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32152-9.pdf). ### Estimating the deaths attributed to risk factors Estimating the risk factors associated with millions of deaths around the world is a complex task — particularly when risk factors can compound and collectively influence the likelihood of disease and, eventually, death. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies – on which we largely rely on in this article – provide one of, if not the, most in-depth analysis and synthesis of relative risk factors.{ref}Iburg, K. M. (2017). Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. _Lancet_, _390_(10100), 1345-1422. Available [online](http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf).{/ref} The GBD groups risk factors into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks. The central tool to estimate the impact of various risk factors is the Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) conceptual framework{ref}Murray, C. J., & Lopez, A. D. (1999). On the comparable quantification of health risks: lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study. _Epidemiology-Baltimore_, _10_(5), 594-605. Available [online](http://www.portal.pmnch.org/quantifying_ehimpacts/methods/en/murray.pdf).{/ref} which details how various risk factors affect health outcomes and ultimately death. For example, there is evidence of links between a higher body mass index (BMI) and the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke and some cancers.{ref}Romero-Corral, A., Montori, V. M., Somers, V. K., Korinek, J., Thomas, R. J., Allison, T. G., … & Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2006). Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies. _The Lancet_, _368_(9536), 666-678. Available [online](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673606692519). Wang, H. J., Si, Q. J., Shan, Z. L., Guo, Y. T., Lin, K., Zhao, X. N., & Wang, Y. T. (2015). Effects of body mass index on risks for ischemic stroke, thromboembolism, and mortality in Chinese atrial fibrillation patients: a single-center experience. _PloS one_, _10_(4), e0123516. Available [online](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123516). Bianchini, F., Kaaks, R., & Vainio, H. (2002). Overweight, obesity, and cancer risk. _The Lancet Oncology_, _3_(9), 565-574. Available [online](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470204502008495).{/ref} Such risk-outcome pairs (e.g. high BMI and ischemic stroke) are formed based on evidence from cohort studies, randomized trials, and case-control studies. A key point to emphasise is that attributing deaths to risk factors necessarily implies making assumptions about the magnitude of the causal impact that each factor has on the probability of death, everything else equal. Establishing causal impacts this way is difficult. The GBD studies rely on state-of-the-art evidence from cohort, case studies and trials, but extrapolating from this evidence still requires making assumptions, with an implied margin of error. As scientific research advances, new evidence becomes available – the estimates from the GBD studies adapt, and become more precise when new academic research emerges. #### The risk factor estimates presented in this entry represent the 'attributable burden' Once a risk-outcome pair has been identified, how does IHME begin to quantify the disease burden or number of deaths attributed to each risk? The CRA can be used for two different types of assessment, _attributable burden_ and _avoidable burden_: * The **_avoidable burden_** represents the potential burden avoided in the future if population exposure to a risk factor was to shift to a counterfactual level of exposure (for example, from its current level to a future scenario where tobacco smoking was eliminated). * The **_attributable burden_** is an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would have been achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed had been eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). It estimates the number of deaths associated with a risk factor as the difference between a hypothetical ideal world with no exposure to relevant risk factors with the actual exposure to risk factors. This methodology can be applied for the current number of deaths associated with different risk factors and in historical analyses of the past. The data presented in this article here is that of the attributable burden. The estimation of the attributable burden effectively answers the question: "What would be the number of deaths from a specific cause of death – e.g. stroke or a specific cancer – if everyone's body-mass index (BMI) was reduced to a optimal, healthy level?" This healthy/optimal level is defined as the '**theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL)**'. Cohort, case studies and trials of established risk-exposure relationships between BMI and ischemic stroke allow for the calculation of the reduction in deaths which would have occurred if BMI was reduced to a healthy level across the population distribution. This relationship can be established by specific demographic groups, such as by sex or age. The difference between the number of deaths from ischemic stroke which would have occurred at the TMREL and at the actual BMI distribution is given as the number of deaths attributed to high BMI from ischemic stroke. By completing this process for all risk-outcome pairs, IHME can sum to estimate the total number of deaths attributed to high BMI, and replicated for all risk factors using their individual risk-outcome exposure curves. #### The number of deaths attributed to different risk factors can not be summed up Note that this process of estimation is not additive; in other words, these risk-specific relationships do not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. High BMI, for example, may likely be present with other lifestyle factors such as low physical activity levels, high blood pressure, low fruit and vegetable intake. All of these estimates are developed independently. We cannot therefore sum all 'attributed deaths' and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death. For example, the chart [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-cardiovascular-diseases-by-risk-factor?time=2017) shows the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. 18 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in 2017. However, if you sum the deaths attributable to individual risk factors they will add up to more that 18 million. The reason is because these risk factors are calculated individually and the measurement does not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. E.g. people who eat less grains and fruits are also likely to have diets with higher proportion of processed fatty acids and lower proportion of fiber. The full methodological explanation of the IHME's approach to risk factor attribution can be found [here](http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf). #### Completeness of the registration of the cause of death This interactive map shows the share of deaths that have the _cause_ of death information recorded. It is calculated as the number of deaths that have been registered with cause-of-death information in a country's vital registration system, divided by the total expected deaths in a given year. Expected deaths are estimated by the World Health Organziation (WHO) based on changes in mortality and demographic trends in a given country. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-cause-is-registered"/> ## Data sources #### Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD) * **Data:** Death rates, absolute number of premature deaths and DALYS across all risk factors and causes * **Geographical coverage:** Global, across all regions and countries * **Time span:** Most metrics available from 1990 onwards * **Available at: **Online [here](http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool) #### World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO) * **Data:** Causes-specific mortality by age and sex * **Geographical coverage:** Global, by region and by country * **Time span:** Most metrics available from 2000 onwards in 5-year incrememnts * **Available at: **Online [here](http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index1.html) #### Global Terrorism Database (GTD) * **Data**: Terrorist attacks with 45-120 variables for each, including number of fatalities, injuries, weapons used, and perpetrators * **Geographical coverage:** Global by country * **Time span:** 1970 onwards * **Available at:**[http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/](http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/) #### Amnesty International * **Data**: International reports of executions * **Geographical coverage:** Global by country * **Time span:** 2007 onwards * **Available at:**[https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/](https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/) | {
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"rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">This article was first published in February 2018. Last updated in December 2019.\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Around 56 million people die each year.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group\">this chart</a>.{/ref} </p>\n\n\n\n<p>What caused their death? How did the causes of death change over time and differ between different countries and world regions? And what are the risk factors that lead to early death? These are the big questions we are answering here.</p>\n\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-block-owid-summary\">\n\t\t<h2>Summary</h2>\n\t\t\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#what-do-people-die-from\">Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. The second biggest cause are cancers.</a><ul><li>In this section you can see the causes of death for all countries in the world.</li></ul></li><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#what-do-people-die-from\">Causes of death vary significantly between countries: non-communicable diseases dominate in rich countries, whereas infectious diseases remain high at lower incomes.</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#causes-of-death-by-category\">The world is making progress against infectious diseases. As a consequence more people are dying from non-communicable diseases.</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#breakdown-of-deaths-by-age\">Fewer people die at a young age. Almost half of all people who die are 70 years and older.</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#risk-factors-for-death\">Leading risk factors for premature death globally include high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, high blood sugar and environmental risk factors including air pollution.</a></li><li><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from\">There is a large difference between what people die from and which causes of death receive news coverage.</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\t</div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Definitions: Cause of death vs risk factors</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to understand what is meant by the <em>cause</em> of death and the <em>risk factor</em> associated with a premature death:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has <em>one</em> specific cause. In their own words: \u2018each death is attributed to a single underlying cause \u2014 the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death\u2019.{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) \u2013 Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980\u20132016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9\">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9</a>{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). </p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement\">Below</a>, in our section on Measurement, you find a more detailed explanation.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>What do people die from?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>56 million people died in 2017.{ref}The number of deaths globally can be seen in <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group\">this chart</a>.{/ref} What did they die from?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal <em>The Lancet</em>.{ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest study can be found at the website of the Lancet here: <a href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/gbd\">TheLancet.com/GBD</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2017 study was published as in the following publication: \u201cRoth, G. A., Abate, D., Abate, K. H., Abay, S. M., Abbafati, C., Abbasi, N., \u2026 & Abdollahpour, I. (2018). Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980\u20132017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. <em>The Lancet</em>, 392(10159), 1736-1788\u2033, and is online <a href=\"http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-age-sex-specific-mortality-282-causes-death-195\">here</a>.{/ref} These estimates of the annual number of deaths by cause are shown here. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the “change country” toggle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) not only dominate mortality figures at a global level, but also account for the majority of deaths in high-income countries. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths from causes such as infectious disease, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies, neonatal and maternal deaths are common \u2013 and in some cases dominant \u2013 across low- and middle-income nations. In Kenya, for example, the leading cause of death remains diarrheal diseases. In South Africa and Botswana, the leading cause of death is HIV/AIDS. In high-income countries however the share of deaths caused by these is very low.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using the timeline on the chart you can also explore how deaths by cause have changed over time. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death rates related to disease, illness and other health factors tend to change relatively slowly over time. Whilst death rates may fall or decline from year-to-year as part of a general trend, dramatic changes in such deaths are typically rare. <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters\">Natural disaster</a> and <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/terrorism\">terrorism-related deaths</a> are an important exception to this rule, as they can vary significantly between countries. This can make the annual comparison of deaths and death rates between health-related factors and volatile events more challenging. Understanding the relative risk of these events can require a longer-term overview of high and low-mortality years. We cover discussion and analysis on this topic in a post <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/is-it-fair-to-compare-terrorism-and-disaster-with-other-causes-of-death/\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><strong>Related chart \u2013 <em>Share</em> of deaths by cause.</strong> This chart shows the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-by-cause\">breakdown of global deaths by cause</a>, given as the <em>share</em> of annual deaths, rather than the absolute number.</p><p><strong>Related research:</strong> We study the major differences in mortality across the world using country examples in our post <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from/\"><strong>here</strong></a>. </p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-by-cause\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Causes of death by category</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>The share of deaths from infectious diseases are declining; a larger share is dying from NCDs</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the distribution of global deaths broken down by three broad categories: </p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Injuries caused by road accidents, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/homicides\">homicides</a>, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/war-and-peace\">conflict deaths</a>, drowning, fire-related accidents, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters\">natural disasters</a> and <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/suicide\">suicides</a>.</li><li>Non-communicable diseases. These are often chronic, long-term illnesses and include cardiovascular diseases (including stroke), <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/cancer\">cancers</a>, diabetes and <em>chronic </em>respiratory diseases (such as chronic pulmonary disease and asthma, but excluding infectious respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza).</li><li>Communicable diseases (i.e. infectious diseases) such as <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids\">HIV/AIDS</a>, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/malaria\">malaria</a>, and tuberculosis together with <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/maternal-mortality\">maternal deaths</a>, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/child-mortality\">neonatal deaths</a> and <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/hunger-and-undernourishment\">deaths from malnutrition</a>.</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown for global deaths as the default, but can be viewed for any country or region using the “change country” toggle on the interactive chart.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At a global level we see that the majority of deaths are caused by <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/\" target=\"_blank\">non-communicable diseases</a> (NCDs). Collectively NCDs account for more than 73% of global deaths. As the world is making progress in the fight against many infectious diseases, and as <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/age-structure\">populations age</a>, we expect that NCDs will become increasingly dominant as the cause of death. </p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><strong>Related chart \u2013 the death rate from causes of death.</strong> This chart shows the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/age-standardized-death-rate-by-cause\">death rate</a> from infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and injuries over time.</p></blockquote>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-number-of-deaths-by-cause?stackMode=relative\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Causes of death by age</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Breakdown of deaths by age</h3>\n\n\n\n<h4>Fewer people die at a young age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In this chart we see the breakdown of deaths by age bracket. Globally fewer and fewer people die at a young age.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, there were 56.5 million deaths globally; just over half of these were people who were 70 years or older; 26% were between 50 and 69 years old; 13% were between 15 and 49; only 1% were older than 5 and younger than 14; and almost 9% were children under the age of 5.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The age at which people die has changed significantly since 1990. Fewer people die at a young age. In 1990 nearly one-quarter of all deaths were in children younger than 5. In 2019, this had declined to just under 9%. In contrast, the share of deaths in the over-70s age bracket has increased from a third to half of all deaths over this period.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is possible to change this chart to any other country or region in the world. In countries with good health the share dying at a young age is very low. In Japan more than 85% are 70 years or older.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-age-group?stackMode=relative\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Causes of deaths of children younger than 5</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This chart shows the number of deaths in children under 5 years old by cause. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through the combination of neonatal (newborn infants less than 28 days old) disorders, infections and congenital (from birth) defects, we see that the largest share of deaths in under-5s arises from complications at birth or in the first few weeks of life. Under-5s are also highly susceptible to lower respiratory infections, infectious diseases, diarrheal infections, malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the \u201cchange country\u201d toggle.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death rates in under-5s are typically much lower in high-income countries, and the nature of these deaths is different from lower incomes. In the United Kingdom, for example, child deaths tend to be highly dominated by neonatal complications. Deaths from infectious and diarrheal diseases and malnutrition is very low. In contrast, infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies are large causes of death in lower-income countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/child-mortality</link-url>\n <title>Child & Infant Mortality</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore causes of death in children and our progress against them in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"548\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01-768x548.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01-768x548.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01-150x107.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01-400x286.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Child-deaths-by-cause-1990-to-2017-IHME-01-770x550.png 770w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-number-of-deaths-in-under-5s\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Causes of deaths for children between 5 and 14</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of children who died between the age of 5 and 14 year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, deaths in the 5-14 year old age bracket account for a small percentage of the total (1-2%). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are six dominant causes of deaths in this age category. The leading causes globally in 5-14 year olds are road accidents, cancers and malaria. Lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, and drowning are all dominant causes typically in the range of 40,000-50,000 deaths in 2017.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, this distribution varies by country. In the United States, for example, cancers are the leading cause of death. In India, it\u2019s diarrheal diseases; in Bangladesh and China it\u2019s drowning; and in South Africa HIV/AIDS.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-5-14-year-olds\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Causes of deaths for 15 to 49 year olds</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 15 and 49.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 15 to 49 years old category, we see that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) begin to become dominant. Globally the leading cause of death in this age group is cardiovascular disease, followed cancers which both account for more than one million deaths. Road accidents, HIV/AIDS and suicide are all significant within this group.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some countries, such as South Africa, by far the dominant cause of death is HIV/AIDS in 15 to 49 year olds. In a number of countries (in particular across Latin America, including Brazil and Mexico), homicide is the dominant cause for 15-49 years old.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-15-49-year-olds\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Causes of deaths for 50 to 69 year olds</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This visualization shows the causes of deaths of those who died between the age of 50 and 69.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 50 to 69 year olds, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are strongly dominant \u2014 here cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory disease and diabetes are the top causes. With the exception of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis which for some countries climb into the top causes, the global variability in death causes for 50-69 year olds is much lower than that of younger age categories.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-50-69-year-olds\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Causes of deaths for people who were older than 69 years</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This visualization shows the causes of death of people who were 70 years and older at the time of their death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the oldest age category (70 years and older), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) still dominate, however other death causes including Alzheimer’s/dementias, and diarrheal diseases also become dominant. Diarrheal diseases remain within the few leading causes of deaths in 70+ year olds for many low-income countries, despite being relatively low at higher incomes.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/causes-of-death-in-70-year-olds\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Risk factors for death</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to understand what is meant by the <em>cause</em> of death and the <em>risk factor</em> associated with a premature death:</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the epidemiological framework of the Global Burden of Disease study each death has <em>one</em> specific cause. In their own words: \u2018each death is attributed to a single underlying cause \u2014 the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death\u2019.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is different from the deaths that happened due to risk factors. These deaths are an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would be achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed would be eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). Risk factors can be grouped into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>All of these estimates are developed independently. This means that we cannot sum all \u2018attributed deaths\u2019 and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#definitions-measurement\">Below</a>, in our section on Measurement, we describe in more detail how the epidemiologists of the Global Burden of Disease study attribute risk factors to mortality.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>The number of deaths by risk factor</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The estimates shown in this visualization show the numbers of deaths attributed to specific risk factors in 2017.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we see that there are several dominant risk factors for death: notably, those related to dietary and activity lifestyle factors (including blood pressure, physical activity, body-mass index, blood sugar, and dietary intake); smoking; air pollution (both outdoor and indoor); environmental factors including clean water and sanitation; and safe sex (for the prevention of HIV/AIDS).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown for deaths worldwide. But you can explore data on the annual number of deaths by cause for any country or region using the \u201cchange country\u201d toggle. The contribution of specific risk factors varies significantly by country. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most high-income countries, the dominant risk factors are those related to healthy diets, smoking and alcohol intake. Other risk factors such as clean water, sanitation, and child wasting or stunting are very low. In low-income countries the inverse is true: in Sierra Leone for example, the top risk factors include child wasting, household air pollution, unsafe water source, poor sanitation, and the lack of access to handwashing facilities. For countries where HIV/AIDS is a major health burden, such as South Africa and Kenya, unsafe sex is the top risk factor.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data here is measured across all age groups and both sexes \u2014 figures for specific age groups are detailed below. </p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Risk factors for death by age</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Risk factors of death in under-5s</h4>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-under5s\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Risk factors for death in 5-14 year olds</h4>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-5-14years\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Risk factors for death in 15-49 year olds</h4>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-15-49years\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Risk factors for death in 50-69 year olds</h4>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-risk-factor-50-69years\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Risk factors for death in 70+ year olds</h4>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-by-risk-factor-over-70\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h2>Cause by cause</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Cardiovascular diseases</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a term used to refer to the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/about_cvd/en/\" target=\"_blank\">range of diseases</a> which affect the heart and blood vessels. These include hypertension (high blood pressure); coronary heart disease (heart attack); cerebrovascular disease (stroke); heart failure; and other heart diseases. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from cardiovascular diseases across the world. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall we see a strong East-West divide in CVD death rates. Rates across North America and Western/Northern Europe tend to be significantly lower than those across Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Across most of Latin America, these rates are moderate. In France, for example, the age-standardized rate was around 86 per 100,000 in 2017; across Eastern Europe this rate was around 5 times higher at 400-500 per 100,000. At the highest end of the scale, Uzbekistan had a rate of 724 per 100,000.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Cardiovascular disease deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of deaths from CVD by age category. Globally we see that approximately 17.8 million people died from CVD. The majority (64 percent) of deaths occurred in the age bracket of 70 years and above. Just below 30 percent were aged 50-69, and the remaining were aged 15-49 (CVD deaths in those aged 14 years and under are small). </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-deaths-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Cardiovascular disease death rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the CVD death rate per 100,000 differentiated by age categories. As established in the breakdown of CVD deaths by age, the majority of deaths occur in the 70+ years old age category. Death rates are therefore significantly higher in the oldest age group at over 2600 per 100,000 in 2016.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cardiovascular-disease-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Cancers</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cancers are defined by the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer\" target=\"_blank\">National Cancer Institute</a> as a collection of diseases in which abnormal cells can divide and spread to nearby tissue. Cancers can arise in many parts of the body \u2013 leading to a range of cancer types, as shown below \u2013 and in some cases spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see cancer death rates across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/cancer</link-url>\n <title>Cancers</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on cancer prevalence, deaths, and survival rates in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/total-cancer-deaths-by-type-1-779x550.png 779w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rates?tab=map\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Dementia</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dementia comprises several forms \u2014 the most common being Alzheimer’s disease \u2014 is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs362/en/\" target=\"_blank\">an illness</a> which results in a deterioration of cognitive capacity and function beyond what is expect from the normal ageing process. It can occur either in a chronic or progressive form. It affects several cognitive functions including memory, comprehension, judgement, language and learning capacity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from dementia across the world. Note that these rates have been age-standardized which aims to correct for differences in the age structure of a population (which are different between countries and change over time). This therefore allows us to compare the likelihood that any given individual will die from dementia across countries and through time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across most countries, the death rate from dementia-related illness is below 55 per 100,000 individuals. Dementia rates in some countries have changed slightly since 1990, but significantly less so than other disease burdens.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Dementia deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows the breakdown of dementia-related deaths by age group. Dementia typically occurs in older persons: of the 2.4 million who died from dementia in 2017, 94 percent were 70 years or older.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dementia-related-deaths-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Diarrheal diseases</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Diarrheal diseases are caused primarily by viral and bacterial pathogens. They are particularly dominant at lower incomes where there is poor access to safe <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/sanitation\">sanitation</a>, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/water-access\">drinking water</a> and hygiene facilities. Diarrheal diseases are a <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/diarrheal-diseases#diarrheal-diseases-are-one-of-the-biggest-killers-of-children-worldwide\">leading cause</a> of death in children.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from diarrheal diseases across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/diarrheal-diseases</link-url>\n <title>Diarrheal diseases</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on diarrheal diseases in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/diarrheal-disease-death-rates-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/diarrheal-disease-death-rates\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Tuberculosis</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuberculosis (TB) is <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20180418014606/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/\" target=\"_blank\">an illness</a> caused by the ingestion of bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which affects the lungs. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate that up to one-quarter of the global population has latent TB, meaning they have been infected with the disease but are not ill with the disease (although this does not inhibit it from becoming active in the future).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>People with compromised immune systems, such as those suffering from malnutrition, diabetes, or are smokers are more likely to become ill with TB. There is a strong link between <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids\">HIV/AIDS</a> and TB: those infected with HIV are 20-30 times more likely to develop active tuberculosis.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from tuberculosis across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across most countries, the death rate from TB is below 5 per 100,000. Rates in 2017 across Eastern Europe were slightly higher, between 5-10 per 100,000. Across South Asia, these reach 25-50 per 100,000, with highest rates across Sub-Saharan Africa ranging from 50 to over 250 per 100,000.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Tuberculosis deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the breakdown of deaths from tuberculosis by age category. At a global level there has been a 25% drop in TB deaths, falling from 1.6 million in 1990 to 1.2 million in 2017.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-deaths-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Tuberculosis death rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates from TB by age category. Here we see that death rates from TB are highest in the 70+ years old age category, followed by 50-69 year olds.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/tuberculosis-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Malnutrition</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Malnutrition arises in various forms, with the broad definition capturing undernourishment, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/micronutrient-deficiency\">micronutrient deficiencies</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/obesity\">obesity</a>. In this case, we refer to ‘<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.fao.org/docrep/W0073e/w0073e05.htm#P2919_330117\" target=\"_blank\">protein-energy malnutrition</a>‘ (PEM) which refers to energy or protein deficiency caused by insufficient food intake. Protein-energy deficiency can also be exacerbated by infection or disease, which can have the effect of increasing nutritional needs, and/or reducing the body’s ability to retain energy or nutrients. You can find more information on hunger and undernourishment in <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment\">our entry</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from protein-energy malnutrition across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The highest rates are seen across across Sub-Saharan Africa, which are typically in the range of 10-100 per 100,000 individuals. For most countries, this rate is below 5 per 100,000. In North Korea during its famine period, rates reached over 400 per 100,000.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Malnutrition deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the annual number of deaths attributed to protein-energy malnutrition (PEM), differentiated by age group. Globally there were approximately 232,000 deaths related to PEM. Children under 5 years old are disproportionately affected by PEM (accounting for 61 percent of global deaths) \u2014 child <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-weight-for-height-wasting\">wasting</a> (too little weight for one’s height) and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#too-little-height-for-age-stunting\">stunting</a> (too short for one’s age) is a common symptom of malnutrition.<br><br>Global protein-energy malnutrition deaths have declined since 1990. However, we see the dramatic impact of the North Korean <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/famines\">famine</a> through the 1990s.{ref}Spoorenberg, T., & Schwekendiek, D. (2012). Demographic changes in north Korea: 1993\u20132008. <em>Population and Development Review</em>, <em>38</em>(1), 133-158. Available <a href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2012.00475.x/full\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-deaths-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Malnutrition death rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the breakdown of death rates by age category. As with the total number of deaths by age, rates in children under 5 years old are highest; at a global level, these have fallen by around two-thirds from 63 to 20 per 100,000 since 1990. Rates for those over 70 years old are also relatively high, at 12 per 100,000 (although this decline over time has been less significant).</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malnutrition-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>HIV/AIDS</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>An infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). AIDS results in a gradual and persistent decline and failure of the immune system, resulting in heightened risk of life-threatening infection and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/cancer\">cancers</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the majority of cases, HIV is a sexually-transmitted infection. However, HIV can also be transmitted from a mother to her child, during pregnancy or childbirth, or through breastfeeding. Non-sexual transmission can also occur through the sharing of injection equipment such as needles.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from HIV/AIDS across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most countries have a rate of less than 10 deaths per 100,000 \u2013 often much lower, below 5 per 100,000. Across Europe the death rate is less than one per 100,000.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across Sub-Saharan Africa the rates are much higher. Most countries in the South of the region had rates greater than 100 per 100,000. In South Africa and Mozambique, it was over 200 per 100,000.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/hiv-aids</link-url>\n <title>HIV/AIDS</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on HIV prevalence, deaths, and treatment in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/hiv-death-rates-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/hiv-death-rates\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Malaria</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Malaria is a disease that is transmitted from person to person by infected mosquitoes. The bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito transmits a parasite that enters the victim\u2019s blood system and travels into the person\u2019s liver where the parasite reproduces. There the parasite causes a high fever that involves shaking chills and pain. In the worst cases malaria leads to coma and death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from malaria across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/malaria</link-url>\n <title>Malaria</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on malaria prevalence, deaths, and treatments in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/malaria-death-rates-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/malaria-death-rates\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Smoking</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Tobacco smoking is not a direct cause of death, but it nonetheless one of the world’s largest health problems. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoking is one of the world’s leading risk factors for premature death. Tobacco a risk factor for several of the world\u2019s leading causes of death, including lung and other forms of cancer, heart disease, and respiratory diseases. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from tobacco smoking across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/smoking</link-url>\n <title>Smoking</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on the prevalence of smoking, its health impacts and attributed deaths in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/death-rate-smoking-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-smoking?tab=map\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Suicide</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every suicide is a tragedy. With timely, evidence-based interventions, suicides can be prevented.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). <em><a href=\"https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/131056/9789241564779_eng.pdf\">Preventing suicide: A global imperative</a></em>. World Health Organization.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from suicide across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/suicide</link-url>\n <title>Suicide</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on deaths from suicide in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/suicide-death-rates-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/suicide-death-rates\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Homicides</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Intentional homicides are defined as \u201can unlawful death deliberately inflicted on one person by another person”.{ref}OECD (2011) \u2013 How\u2019s Life? Measuring Well-being: Measuring Well-being.{/ref} Civilian and military deaths during <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace/\">interstate wars</a>, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/civil-wars\">civil wars</a> and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/genocides/\">genocides</a> are not counted as homicides \u2013 but <em>Our World in Data</em> presents the evidence on deaths in the linked articles.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see homicide rates across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/homicides</link-url>\n <title>Homicides</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore global, regional and country-level data on homicides in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/intentional-homicides-per-100000-people\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Natural disasters</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Natural disasters can occur in many forms \u2013 ranging from earthquakes and tsunamis, to extreme weather events, and heatwaves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The largest disaster events are often infrequent, but high-impact meaning there is significant variability in deaths from year-to-year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the the map we see death rates from natural disasters across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters</link-url>\n <title>Natural disasters</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore data on the number, costs and deaths from natural disasters in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"459\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster-768x459.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster-768x459.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster-150x90.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster-400x239.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/11/Annual-deaths-by-natural-disaster-800x478.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-disasters\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Road incidents</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Road incident deaths include those of drivers \u2013 motor vehicles and motorcyclists \u2013 in addition to cyclists and pedestrian deaths.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from road incidents across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death rates are typically lowest across Western Europe and Japan, with less than 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. Across the Americas, rates are typically slightly higher at 5 to 20; most countries in Asia lie between 15 and 30; and rates are typically highest across Sub-Saharan Africa with over 25 per 100,000. </p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-road-accidents\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Motor vehicle, motorcyclist, cyclist & pedestrian deaths</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Road incident deaths include those from motor vehicles (including drivers and passengers within the car), pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists. In the chart we see the breakdown of these deaths by category. The total number of road deaths increased during the 1990s and early 2000s before roughly plateauing since then (with a small decline in recent years).<br><br>The largest share of deaths at the global level are pedestrians (with 39 percent of the share), closely followed by those in motor vehicles (36 percent); motorcyclists (18 percent); and cyclists (6 percent). This share has remained fairly consistent with time.<br><br>This breakdown varies significantly across the world, however. In India and Brazil, for example, a much larger share (31 and 33 percent respectively) are motorcyclists. In the United States 68 percent are motor vehicle passengers or drivers. In China, 58 percent are pedestrians.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-deaths-by-type\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Road incident deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the breakdown of road accident deaths by age category. The largest share of deaths at a global level are within the 15-49 year old category with 54% of the total. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-accident-deaths-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Road incident death rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the breakdown of death rates from road incidents by age category. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Drowning</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasises that drowning is one of the most overlooked, preventable causes of death across the world.{ref}World Health Organization. (2014). <em>Global report on drowning: preventing a leading killer</em>. World Health Organization. Available <a href=\"http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/143893/1/9789241564786_eng.pdf\">online</a>.{/ref} For every country in the world, drowning is among the top 10 killers for children. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, it is the top mortality cause for children under 15 years old.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from drowning across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2016, death rates were highest in Papua New Guinea and Seychelles, between 10 to 16 deaths per 100,000. Rates were also high in countries such as Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Vietnam, and Haiti.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we look at death rates we see a significant decline since 1990 \u2014 especially in low to middle-income countries. In Bangladesh and China, for example, rates have fallen by more than two-thirds over this period.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Drowning deaths by age group</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the breakdown of annual drowning deaths by age group. At a global level we see drowning deaths have declined around 45 percent from 530,000 in 1990 to 300,000 in 2017. The most dramatic decline is seen in under-5s, where deaths have fallen from 209,000 to just over 60,000 over this period. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-deaths-by-age-group\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Drowning death rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the relative death rates from drowning across age groups. Here we see that both the young (under 5s) and old (70+ years old) are at highest risk of death from drowning. Most striking is the dramatic decline in death rates for under-5s. This has fallen by more than two-thirds since 1990, decreasing from 32 to 9 per 100,000. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drowning-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Fire</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from fire across the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most countries across the Americas, Western Europe, East Asia and Oceania average death rates below 2 per 100,000. Rates across other regions are typically higher at 2-6 per 100,000. When viewed through time we see a notable decline in fire death rates, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. </p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<h3>Additional information</h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Fire deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows the annual deaths from fire or burning incidents broken down by age group. In 2017, there were around 121,000 global deaths from fire which represents a slight decline from the mid-1990s when deaths reached over 150,000. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-deaths-by-age-group\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h4>Fire deaths rates by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the visualization we see the relative death rates between age categories. At the global level, those 70 years and above are typically at the highest risk with 7 per 100,000. Next is those under 5 years old, but with a significant drop in death rate to 2-3 per 100,000. </p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates-by-age\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h3>Terrorism</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Terrorism <a href=\"https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/terrorism\">is defined</a> in the Oxford Dictionary as \u201cthe unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.\u201d We quickly see that this definition is unspecific and subjective.{ref}Teichman, J. (1989). How to define terrorism. <em>Philosophy</em>, <em>64</em>(250), 505-517.{/ref} In our full article on <em>Terrorism</em> <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism#what-is-terrorism\">we look at</a> adopted definitions, and how it’s distinguished from other forms of violence.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the map we see death rates from terrorism across the world.</p>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" >\n <link-url>https://owid.cloud/terrorism</link-url>\n <title>Terrorism</title>\n <content>\n\n<p>You can explore data on the number of terrorist attacks and deaths in our full article here.</p>\n\n</content>\n <figure><img width=\"768\" height=\"542\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-768x542.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-768x542.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-400x282.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-779x550.png 779w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-1536x1084.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/12/fatalities-from-terrorism-3-2048x1446.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" /></figure>\n </block>\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fatalities-from-terrorism\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Deaths by animal</h3>\n\n\n\n<h4>Mosquitoes are by far the world’s deadliest animal</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Around 1.5 million people are killed by animals every year. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than half a million are killed by other humans \u2013 in <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/war-and-peace\">war</a>, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/homicides\">homicides</a>, and <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/terrorism\">terrorism</a>. And close to a million people are killed by other animals in any given year.{ref}Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: Malaria, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Snake and scorpion deaths are based on IHME fatality estimates from venomous animal contact.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dog deaths are the sum of deaths from rabies and estimates of dog attacks.\u0003</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths by shark and crocodile are summarised annually in updated databases. Figures from remaining animals (without an attributed disease) \u0003 are typically not recorded annually, but are provided as average estimates from sources including the UN FAO, National Geographic, WWF \u0003and Gates Notes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths from humans is defined as the sum of homicide, conflict and terrorism deaths.{/ref} </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mosquitoes are, by far, the world’s deadliest animal for humans: at estimated 780,000 died from the transmission of disease from mosquitoes in 2016. Mosquito deaths are the sum of deaths (in order, highest to lowest) from: <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/malaria\">Malaria</a>, Dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, Zika virus, Chikungunya, West Nile virus, and Lymphatic filariasis, for which it is the vector.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"750\" height=\"528\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-750x528.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18890\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-750x528.png 750w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-150x106.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-400x281.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2018/04/Deadliest-animals-01-768x540.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" /><figcaption><em>Estimated number of global human deaths by animal, either from direct contact/attack or transmission of disease.</em></figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<h2>Does the news reflect what we die from?</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the primary motivations for our work at Our World in Data is to provide a fact-based overview of the world we live in \u2014 a perspective that includes the persistent and long-term changes that run as a backdrop to our daily lives. We aim to provide the complement to the fast-paced reporting we see in the news. The media provides a near-instantaneous snapshot of single events; events that are, in most cases, negative. The persistent, large-scale trends of <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts\">progress</a> never make the headlines.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But is there evidence that such a disconnect exists between what we see in the news and what is reality for most of us?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One study attempted to look at this from the perspective of what we die from: is what we actually die from reflected in the media coverage these topics receive?{ref}Shen et al. (2018). Death: Reality vs Reported. Available at: <a href=\"https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/\">https://owenshen24.github.io/charting-death/</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p> To answer this, Shen and his team compared four key sources of data:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>the causes of deaths in the USA (statistics published by the <a href=\"https://wonder.cdc.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CDC’s WONDER public health database</a>)</li><li>Google search trends for causes of deaths (sourced from <a href=\"https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Trends</a>)</li><li>mentions of causes of deaths in the <em>New York Times</em> (sourced from the <a href=\"https://developer.nytimes.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NYT article database</a>)</li><li>mentions of causes of deaths in <em>The Guardian</em> newspaper (sourced from <a href=\"http://open-platform.theguardian.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Guardian article database</a>)</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>For each source the authors calculated the relative share of deaths, share of Google searches, and share of media coverage. They restricted the considered causes to the top 10 causes of death in the US and additionally included terrorism, homicide, and drug overdoses. This allows for us to compare the relative representation across different sources.{ref}All values are normalized to 100% so they represent their <em>relative</em> share of the top causes, rather than absolute counts (e.g. \u2018deaths\u2019 represents each cause’s share of deaths within the 13 categories shown rather than its share of total deaths; the 13 categories here account for approximately 88% of total US deaths).{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>What we die from; what we Google; what we read in the news</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what do the results look like? In the chart here I present the comparison.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first column represents each cause’s share of US deaths; the second the share of Google searches each receives; third, the relative article mentions in the <em>New York Times;</em> and finally article mentions in <em>The Guardian</em>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The coverage in both newspapers here is strikingly similar. And the discrepancy between what we actually die from and what we get informed of in the media is what stands out:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>around one-third of the considered causes of deaths resulted from heart disease, yet this cause of death receives only 2-3 percent of Google searches and media coverage;</li><li>just under one-third of the deaths came from cancer; we actually Google cancer a lot (37 percent of searches) and <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/cancer\">it is a popular entry</a> here on our site; but it receives only 13-14 percent of media coverage;</li><li>we searched for road incidents more frequently than their share of deaths; however, they receive much less attention in the news;</li><li>when it comes to deaths from strokes, Google searches and media coverage are surprisingly balanced;</li><li>the largest discrepancies concern violent forms of death: <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/suicide\">suicide</a>, <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/homicides\">homicide</a> and <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/terrorism\">terrorism</a>. All three receive much more relative attention in Google searches and media coverage than their relative share of deaths. When it comes to the media coverage on causes of death, violent deaths account for more than two-thirds of coverage in the <em>New York Times</em> and <em>The Guardian</em> but account for less than 3 percent of the total deaths in the US.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What’s interesting is that what Americans search on Google is a much closer reflection of what kills us than what is presented in the media. One way to think about it is that media outlets may produce content that they think readers are most interested in, but this is not necessarily reflected in our preferences when we look for information ourselves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[<em>Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution; The chart shows the summary for the year 2016, but interactive charts for all available years are available at <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from#additional-information\">the end of this blog</a>.{ref}The authors calculated this data annually from 1999 to 2016 (due to data availability, from 2004 onwards for Google Trends).{/ref}</em>]</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"4080\" height=\"3133\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23625\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage.png 4080w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage-150x115.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage-400x307.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage-768x590.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Causes-of-death-in-USA-vs.-media-coverage-716x550.png 716w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4080px) 100vw, 4080px\" /></a></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<h4>How over- or underrepresented are deaths in the media?</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As we can see clearly from the chart above, there is a disconnect between what we die from, and how much coverage these causes get in the media. Another way to summarize this discrepancy is to calculate how over- or underrepresented each cause is in the media. To do this, we simply calculate the ratio between the share of deaths and share of media coverage for each cause.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this chart, we see how over- or underrepresented each cause is in newspaper coverage.{ref}Note here that these ratios are calculated based on the average of annual trends over the period 1999 to 2016 rather than the year 2016 alone.{/ref} Causes shown in red are overrepresented in the media; those in blue are underrepresented. Numbers denote the factor by which they are misrepresented.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The major standout here \u2013 I had to break the scale on the y-axis since it’s several orders of magnitude higher than everything else \u2013 is terrorism: it is overrepresented in the news by almost a factor of 4000.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Homicides are also very overrepresented in the news, by a factor of 31. The most underrepresented in the media are kidney disease (11-fold), heart disease (10-fold), and, perhaps surprisingly, drug overdoses (7-fold). Stroke and diabetes are the two causes most accurately represented.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>[<em>Clicking on the visualization will open it in higher resolution</em>].</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3461\" height=\"2676\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23627\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media.png 3461w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media-150x116.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media-400x309.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media-768x594.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2019/05/Over-and-underrepresentation-of-deaths-in-media-711x550.png 711w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3461px) 100vw, 3461px\" /></a></figure></div>\n\n\n\n<h4><em>Should</em> media exposure reflect what we die from?</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>From the comparisons above, it’s clear that the news doesn’t reflect what we die from. But there is another important question: <em>should</em> these be representative?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are several reasons we would, or should, expect that what we read online, and what is covered in the media wouldn’t correspond with what we actually die from.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first is that we would expect there to be some preventative aspect to information we access. There’s a strong argument that things we search for and gain information on encourages us to take action which prevents a further death. There are several examples where I can imagine this to be true. People who are concerned about cancer may search online for guidance on symptoms and be convinced to see their doctor. Some people with suicidal thoughts may seek help and support online which later results in an averted death from suicide. We’d therefore expect that both intended or unintended exposure to information on particular topics could prevent deaths from a given cause. Some imbalance in the relative proportions therefore makes sense. But clearly there is some bias in our concerns: most people die from heart disease (hence it should be something that concerns us) yet only a small minority seek [possibly preventative] information online.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, this study focused on what people in the USA die from, not what people across the world die from. Is media coverage more representative of global deaths? Not really. In another blog post, ‘<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/what-does-the-world-die-from\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What does the world die from?</a>‘, I looked in detail at the ranking of causes of death globally and by country. The relative ranking of deaths in the USA is reflective of the global average: most people die from heart disease and cancers, and terrorism ranks last or second last (alongside <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/natural-disasters\">natural disasters</a>). Terrorism accounted for 0.06 percent of global deaths in 2016. Whilst we’d expect non-US events to feature in the<em> New York Times, </em>global news shouldn’t substantially affect representative coverage of causes.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The third relates to the very nature of news: it focuses on events and stories. Whilst I am often critical of the messages and narratives portrayed in the media, I have some sympathy for what they choose to cover. Reporting has become increasingly fast-paced. As news consumers, our expectations have quickly shifted from daily, to hourly, down to minute-by-minute updates of what’s happening in the world. Combine this with our attraction to stories and narratives. It’s not surprising that the media focuses on reports of single (inadvertently negative) events: a murder case or a terrorist attack. The most underrepresented cause of death in the media was kidney disease. But with an audience that expects a minute-by-minute feed of coverage, how much can possibly be said about kidney disease? Without conquering our compulsion for the latest unusual story, we cannot expect this representation to be perfectly balanced.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>How to combat our bias for single events</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Media and its consumers are stuck in a reinforcing cycle. The news reports on breaking events, which are often based around a compelling story. Consumers want to know what’s going on in the world <strong>\u2014 </strong>we are quickly immersed by the latest headline. We come to expect news updates with increasing frequency, and media channels have clear incentives to deliver. This locks us into a cycle of expectation and coverage with a strong bias for outlier events. Most of us are left with a skewed perception of the world; we think the world is much worse than it is.{ref}There are many results which show we have a negative bias of global progress. <em><a href=\"https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness-book/\">Factfulness</a>, </em>published by the Roslings, is packed with public survey results of Gapminder’s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://www.gapminder.org/ignorance/\" target=\"_blank\">Ignorance Test</a>. The test shows that the vast majority of people get the most basic questions on global development wrong (nearly always thinking the world is in a worst state than it is).{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The responsibility in breaking this cycle lies with both media producers and consumers. Will we ever stop reporting and reading the latest news? Unlikely. But we can all be more conscious of how we let this news shape our understanding of the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And journalists can do much better in providing context of the broader trends: if reporting on a homicide, for example, include context of <a href=\"https://owid.cloud/homicides\">how homicide rates are changing</a> over time.{ref}In many countries they <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/homicides#homicide-rates\" target=\"_blank\">have been falling</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As media consumers we can be much more aware of the fact that relying on the 24/7 news coverage alone is wholly insufficient for understanding the state of the world. This requires us to check our (often unconscious) bias for single narratives and seek out sources that provide a fact-based perspective on the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This antidote to the news is what we try to provide at Our World in Data. It should be accessible for everyone, which is why our work is completely open-access. Whether you are a media producer or consumer, feel free to take and use anything you find here.</p>\n\n\n\t<block type=\"additional-information\" default-open=\"false\">\n\t\t<content>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-style-sticky-right\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<h5><strong>Shares of deaths, media coverage and Google searches over time</strong></h5>\n\n\n\n<p>The interactive charts present the full annual data series published by Shen et al. (2018), and summarised above, on the relative share of deaths in the US, Google searches and New York Times (NYT) and The Guardian media coverage across the 13 cause of death categories. For share of deaths, NYT and The Guardian coverage, data extends from 1999 to 2016. Due to data availability Google Trends data only runs from the year 2004 to 2016.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/relative-share-of-deaths-in-usa\"></iframe></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/relative-share-of-google-searches-for-causes-of-death\"></iframe></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-coverage-in-nyt\"></iframe></figure>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-guardian-media-coverage\"></iframe></figure>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n</content>\n\t</block>\n\n\n<h2>Definitions and measurement</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this article we rely largely on the estimates presented in the <em>Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</em> studies that are produced under the leadership of the <em>Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation</em>. The study is published in <em>The Lancet</em> at <a href=\"https://www.thelancet.com/gbd\">TheLancet.com/GBD</a> and is the most regularly updated; comprehensive; and most in-depth analysis and synthesis of the causes and risk factors of death worldwide.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Estimating the causes of death</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The IHME’s Global Burden of Disease (GBD) has developed a standardized approach to the attribution of deaths to specific causes.{ref}GBD 2017 Mortality Collaborators (2018) \u2013 Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950\u20132017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. In <em>The Lancet</em>, Vol. 392, No. 10159 Published: November 10, 2018. DOI: <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9\">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31891-9</a>{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their methodology states that “each death is attributed to a single underlying cause \u2014 the cause that initiated the series of events leading to death\u2014in accordance with ICD principles”.{ref}GBD 2016 Mortality Collaborators (2017) \u2013 Global, regional, and national age-sex specific mortality for 264 causes of death, 1980\u20132016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. In The Lancet. Published:September 16, 2017DOI:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9\">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32152-9</a>{/ref} Data to estimate the causes of deaths is far from complete, particularly in poorer countries, and for this estimation the researchers therefore need to rely on various sources. These sources include vital registration (VR); verbal autopsy (VA); surveillance, census and survey data; cancer registries; and police records. GBD then develops a data standardization and processing methodology within which they define data quality and completeness scores, and where necessary adjust completeness to 100% using cause fractions for a given location-age-sex-year and estimated all-cause mortality for that location-age-sex-year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The GBD assessment is strongly tied to the mortality cause categories as defined within the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/\" target=\"_blank\">International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</a> codes, as used by the World Health Organization (WHO). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>An important step in the GBD methodology standardization is in reallocating deaths attributed within ICD classifications without an underlying cause of death (for example, senility) which can be an intermediate but not final cause of death. These categories are termed as ‘garbage codes’. GBD redistribute these garbage codes using a methodology explained in detail in Naghavi et al. (2010).{ref}Naghavi, M., Makela, S., Foreman, K., O’Brien, J., Pourmalek, F., & Lozano, R. (2010). Algorithms for enhancing public health utility of national causes-of-death data. <em>Population health metrics</em>, <em>8</em>(1), 9. Available <a href=\"https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1478-7954-8-9\">online</a>.{/ref} Note that this redistributing of ‘garbage codes’ in some cases explains the difference in estimates between IHME and WHO, such as for road accident deaths (compared <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#road-accidents-ihme-vs-who-statistics\">here</a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death and death rate analyses are then carried out by the GBD researchers across all locations, all ages, both sexes and for the period from 1990 onwards based on its Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm). The full description of GBD methodology can be found <a href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32152-9.pdf\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Estimating the deaths attributed to risk factors</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Estimating the risk factors associated with millions of deaths around the world is a complex task \u2014 particularly when risk factors can compound and collectively influence the likelihood of disease and, eventually, death. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies \u2013 on which we largely rely on in this article \u2013 provide one of, if not the, most in-depth analysis and synthesis of relative risk factors.{ref}Iburg, K. M. (2017). Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990\u20132016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. <em>Lancet</em>, <em>390</em>(10100), 1345-1422. Available <a href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The GBD groups risk factors into four broad categories: behavioral risks, environmental risks, occupational risks, and metabolic risks.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The central tool to estimate the impact of various risk factors is the Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) conceptual framework{ref}Murray, C. J., & Lopez, A. D. (1999). On the comparable quantification of health risks: lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study. <em>Epidemiology-Baltimore</em>, <em>10</em>(5), 594-605. Available <a href=\"http://www.portal.pmnch.org/quantifying_ehimpacts/methods/en/murray.pdf\">online</a>.{/ref} which details how various risk factors affect health outcomes and ultimately death. For example, there is evidence of links between a higher body mass index (BMI) and the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke and some cancers.{ref}Romero-Corral, A., Montori, V. M., Somers, V. K., Korinek, J., Thomas, R. J., Allison, T. G., \u2026 & Lopez-Jimenez, F. (2006). Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies. <em>The Lancet</em>, <em>368</em>(9536), 666-678. Available <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673606692519\">online</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wang, H. J., Si, Q. J., Shan, Z. L., Guo, Y. T., Lin, K., Zhao, X. N., & Wang, Y. T. (2015). Effects of body mass index on risks for ischemic stroke, thromboembolism, and mortality in Chinese atrial fibrillation patients: a single-center experience. <em>PloS one</em>, <em>10</em>(4), e0123516. Available <a href=\"http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123516\">online</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bianchini, F., Kaaks, R., & Vainio, H. (2002). Overweight, obesity, and cancer risk. <em>The Lancet Oncology</em>, <em>3</em>(9), 565-574. Available <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470204502008495\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such risk-outcome pairs (e.g. high BMI and ischemic stroke) are formed based on evidence from cohort studies, randomized trials, and case-control studies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A key point to emphasise is that attributing deaths to risk factors necessarily implies making assumptions about the magnitude of the causal impact that each factor has on the probability of death, everything else equal. Establishing causal impacts this way is difficult. The GBD studies rely on state-of-the-art evidence from cohort, case studies and trials, but extrapolating from this evidence still requires making assumptions, with an implied margin of error. As scientific research advances, new evidence becomes available \u2013 the estimates from the GBD studies adapt, and become more precise when new academic research emerges.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>The risk factor estimates presented in this entry represent the ‘attributable burden’</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Once a risk-outcome pair has been identified, how does IHME begin to quantify the disease burden or number of deaths attributed to each risk? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CRA can be used for two different types of assessment, <em>attributable burden</em> and <em>avoidable burden</em>:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The <strong><em>avoidable burden</em></strong> represents the potential burden avoided in the future if population exposure to a risk factor was to shift to a counterfactual level of exposure (for example, from its current level to a future scenario where tobacco smoking was eliminated). </li><li>The <strong><em>attributable burden</em></strong> is an estimation of the reduction of the number of deaths that would have been achieved if the risk factors to which a population is exposed had been eliminated (in the case of tobacco smoking, for example) or reduced to an optimal, healthy level (in the case of body-mass index). It estimates the number of deaths associated with a risk factor as the difference between a hypothetical ideal world with no exposure to relevant risk factors with the actual exposure to risk factors. This methodology can be applied for the current number of deaths associated with different risk factors and in historical analyses of the past. The data presented in this article here is that of the attributable burden.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The estimation of the attributable burden effectively answers the question: “What would be the number of deaths from a specific cause of death \u2013 e.g. stroke or a specific cancer \u2013 if everyone’s body-mass index (BMI) was reduced to a optimal, healthy level?” This healthy/optimal level is defined as the ‘<strong>theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL)</strong>‘. Cohort, case studies and trials of established risk-exposure relationships between BMI and ischemic stroke allow for the calculation of the reduction in deaths which would have occurred if BMI was reduced to a healthy level across the population distribution. This relationship can be established by specific demographic groups, such as by sex or age. The difference between the number of deaths from ischemic stroke which would have occurred at the TMREL and at the actual BMI distribution is given as the number of deaths attributed to high BMI from ischemic stroke.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>By completing this process for all risk-outcome pairs, IHME can sum to estimate the total number of deaths attributed to high BMI, and replicated for all risk factors using their individual risk-outcome exposure curves.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>The number of deaths attributed to different risk factors can not be summed up</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that this process of estimation is not additive; in other words, these risk-specific relationships do not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. High BMI, for example, may likely be present with other lifestyle factors such as low physical activity levels, high blood pressure, low fruit and vegetable intake. All of these estimates are developed independently. We cannot therefore sum all ‘attributed deaths’ and conclude that this is the actual number of deaths. The attributed number of deaths by risk factor in many cases exceeds that of those by cause of death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, the chart <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-cardiovascular-diseases-by-risk-factor?time=2017\">here</a> shows the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. 18 million people died from cardiovascular diseases in 2017. However, if you sum the deaths attributable to individual risk factors they will add up to more that 18 million. The reason is because these risk factors are calculated individually and the measurement does not account for the compounding effects of multiple risk factors. E.g. people who eat less grains and fruits are also likely to have diets with higher proportion of processed fatty acids and lower proportion of fiber.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The full methodological explanation of the IHME’s approach to risk factor attribution can be found <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)32366-8.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Completeness of the registration of the cause of death</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive map shows the share of deaths that have the <em>cause</em> of death information recorded. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is calculated as the number of deaths that have been registered with cause-of-death information in a country’s vital registration system, divided by the total expected deaths in a given year. Expected deaths are estimated by the World Health Organziation (WHO) based on changes in mortality and demographic trends in a given country.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-deaths-cause-is-registered\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Data sources</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data:</strong> Death rates, absolute number of premature deaths and DALYS across all risk factors and causes</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global, across all regions and countries</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> Most metrics available from 1990 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at: </strong>Online <a href=\"http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool\">here</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data:</strong> Causes-specific mortality by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global, by region and by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> Most metrics available from 2000 onwards in 5-year incrememnts</li><li><strong>Available at: </strong>Online <a href=\"http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/index1.html\">here</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Global Terrorism Database (GTD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Terrorist attacks with 45-120 variables for each, including number of fatalities, injuries, weapons used, and perpetrators</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> 1970 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Amnesty International</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: International reports of executions</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span:</strong> 2007 onwards</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n",
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