Comparing Death Stats

[Deleted]

This is a bit morbid, but I found it really interesting. The graphic is too much for me to copy here

Link

[mmhmm]

Thanks for posting that. It is interesting!

[Jaguar]

The Black Death is the biggest killer throughout all of history, now that's something.

[Tennesseer]

Not surprising plague is the biggest killer.  I imagine there are other viruses and bacteria just biding their time to strike a major blow against humanity and other living things.

[Deleted]

I was surprised by the number of suicides. And the number of people that died in war in 2008.

[grumpyhermit]

Am I just blind or did they not put the 1918 Flu on there? That killed a ton too in a relatively short period of time. 

[bobosensei]

I was surprised by the difference in US men and women that commit suicide each year.  30k men to 8k women.  I never would have thought there would be that many more men than women, but now that I think about it of the people I've known personally that committed suicide, 3, all were men.

[Deleted]

The suicide stat doesn't surprise me. Women have a much higher rate of attempts, but men have a much higher rate of success. I think that maybe for women, cutting wrists and taking an OD of pills are cries for help. Now that I think of it, all the suicides I know of are also men.

[Tiny]

Sept 11, 2015 22:49:39 GMT -5 grumpyhermit said:

Am I just blind or did they not put the 1918 Flu on there? That killed a ton too in a relatively short period of time. 

I think this is why:

When there were too many differing opinions (like Howard Zinn saying European Colonialism killed 100 million people, with other sources saying it was 2 million), I left it out.

I think there's a lot of 'estimating' that goes on for the number of deaths from the Spanish Flu.   There's little doubt it ripped thru the military centers since they kept records.   But I think there's some 'estimating' for how many people outside the military died.    There's also a long and deadly war going on - so it may be hard to separate out flu versus war deaths (in the field).

My parents were born 1916 and 1919 - so I've got some idea of who was alive during that period in my family - and no one died during the flu years.   The deaths of siblings (babies and toddlers)  happened between 1900 and 1910 - so perhaps too early for the Spanish Flu.    When I went thru my family's grave sites and the graves my mom use to visit (friends of the family)  AKA the Dead Relatives -  There aren't many death dates in the 1915 thru 1920 range - death dates go back to 1899.    I've got ALOT of Dead Relatives... more than Not Dead Relatives.   

Of course, personal experience doesn't indicate what actually happened... I suspect the Spanish Flu like other flu's hit some areas harder than others.   I know it hit the military hard - all the recruits training/living in close quarters AND moving around spreading it to other military installations.  Perhaps when it did get spread to cities/towns it was a bit more contained to an area or a household.   Not sure.

[Tiny]

The Black Death (and the Spanish Flu) were more or less World Wide while some of the other things were more local...

Perhaps the it might not have felt so 'devastating' to have 10 (just a number) people in your village die (out of 100 (example) or so) from something but the fact that it was happening Everywhere is what makes the number so big.

[grumpyhermit]

That makes sense. I guess that's what I get for skipping all the words and just looking at the pictures

[cronewitch]

My grandfather died the last day of WWI of the flu. My great aunt was so sick she wished she was dead and told me about that day.

[Phoenix84]

Sept 12, 2015 6:57:19 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

I was surprised by the difference in US men and women that commit suicide each year.  30k men to 8k women.  I never would have thought there would be that many more men than women, but now that I think about it of the people I've known personally that committed suicide, 3, all were men.

Men are far more likely to use more lethal means to end their lives, like self inflicted gunshot wounds. Women are more like to use a suicide attempt as a cry for help.

In addition, men generally lack as much of a emotional support structure as women, and are conditioned from a young age not to show sadness.or fear.

[Phoenix84]

Sept 11, 2015 22:49:39 GMT -5 grumpyhermit said:

Am I just blind or did they not put the 1918 Flu on there? That killed a ton too in a relatively short period of time. 

I'm surprised they didn't put on the 2004 tsunami.

They didn't put on much famine either. I know there were extremely deadly famines in history.

[Tiny]

The deaths per day are approx. 151k so that's approx. 55,000,000 a year. Looks like, in general, Death is pretty busy...

[Tiny]

I'm not really buying that "women's suicides attempts are a "cry for help"" thing. It seems kind of condescending and patronizing. Like a womann who attempts and fails at suicide is just being dramatic. They had to stage their almost death so they'd get so attention or make a statement.

I suspect that the women who do attempt suicide aren't expecting to fail. Not to put thoughts in their head but I would think they aren't thinking "I'll cut my wrists and take these sleeping pills! I'm sure THIS time Someone will FINALLY notice I'm in pain and offer some help!" I suspect they are thinking similar to what guys are thinking - about how being dead is better for them and maybe better for the one's they love - than being alive...

[svwashout]

Sept 12, 2015 6:57:19 GMT -5 bobosensei said:

I was surprised by the difference in US men and women that commit suicide each year.  30k men to 8k women.  I never would have thought there would be that many more men than women, but now that I think about it of the people I've known personally that committed suicide, 3, all were men.

Women seem to lag by an even wider margin as murderers--
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_crime#In_the_United_States
Killing's hard, let's go shopping?

[Tennesseer]

Sept 13, 2015 8:05:26 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Sept 11, 2015 22:49:39 GMT -5 grumpyhermit said:

Am I just blind or did they not put the 1918 Flu on there? That killed a ton too in a relatively short period of time. 

I'm surprised they didn't put on the 2004 tsunami.

They didn't put on much famine either. I know there were extremely deadly famines in history.

It's there under Indian Ocean Tsunamis.

[thyme4change]

Maybe the gun control folks should be focused more on suicides than on school shootings and such.  I am much more afraid that my kids will not be able to figure out a solution and decide to kill themselves than I am of one of their classmates not being able to figure out a solution and deciding to kill my kids.  I suspect a fair number of people in that suicide category were using legal, permitted guns.  

[Phoenix84]

Sept 13, 2015 10:19:07 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Maybe the gun control folks should be focused more on suicides than on school shootings and such.  I am much more afraid that my kids will not be able to figure out a solution and decide to kill themselves than I am of one of their classmates not being able to figure out a solution and deciding to kill my kids.  I suspect a fair number of people in that suicide category were using legal, permitted guns.  

Yeah, humans are really bad at calculating risk. This is why I think we place undue concern sometimes on mass shootings or police shootings of unarmed people. Sure, those things aren't necessarily "good" but there are many, many more likely ways for you to die, not the least of which is driving your car, which is something we don't even think about.

[Deleted]

In general we seem to mourn some ways of dying over others and I'm not sure I agree with how we prioritize the "bad" or "most tragic" ways of dying.

[thyme4change]

Sept 14, 2015 13:23:58 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

In general we seem to mourn some ways of dying over others and I'm not sure I agree with how we prioritize the "bad" or "most tragic" ways of dying.

Newsworthy means we feel the most for the death of strangers.  If we were shown pictures of everyone that died yesterday of cancer each morning, it might raise awareness.  Think the Today Show would start doing that?

[Deleted]

I was thinking more in line with how many people die each year due to war. Canada doesn't lose that many to war so I was surprised by how high the number is.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

That was really interesting. I had never heard of the Masada suicides, so I googled it and learned something new.
Also on the suicide topic: Of the women I know who have tried to commit suicide by ODing or slitting her wrists, I think both sincerely wanted to die when they did it. Those methods are just harder to get right. Both still struggle with depression, but have not made any other suicide attempts as far as I know.
I also had a pretty awful non-relationship with a guy in college who would mention previous suicide attempts and occasionally threaten suicide for a variety of reasons (including me telling our mutual friends why I no longer wanted to be the same room with him). Looking back, I think he was more manipulative than suicidal, but it can be hard to tell sometimes.

[wyouser]

As someone once noted....."isn't it odd, people always die in alphabetical order in Newspapers"

[toomuchreality]

Sept 15, 2015 12:21:57 GMT -5 wyouser said:

As someone once noted....."isn't it odd, people always die in alphabetical order in Newspapers"

Another odd thing... I never noticed the obits are in alphabetical order!  LOL