The Grim Reaper in America

While I was researching Causes of death in the United States, I came across the following interesting statistics. So in the spirit of Christmas and good cheer, enjoy.

In 2002 in the U.S. the top 10 causes of death were:
Heart disease: 696,947
Cancer: 557,271
Stroke: 162,672
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,816
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 106,742
Diabetes: 73,249
Influenza/pneumonia: 65,681
Alzheimer's disease: 58,866
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (Liver Deseases): 40,974
Septicemia (Internal Infections, Bactieria in bloodstream): 33,865


Other notable causes of death in the United States (2002)
Suicide: 30,622(2001)
Murder: 16,110
Execution: 71
Intentional abortion: 1,293,000
Note that there is much debate as to when a fetus should be considered "human." The death of a human zygote — a one-celled combination of a sperm and an egg — is counted by some as the death of a human, and by others as simply the death of a cell. The above number would apparently include abortions to save the life of the mother, abortions of obviously highly defective fetuses, and abortions of fetuses unlikely to reach term.

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