The World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

 has traditionally classified death according to the primary type of disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

 or injury

Injury

-By cause:*Traumatic injury, a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident*Other injuries from external physical causes, such as radiation injury, burn injury or frostbite*Injury from infection...

. However, causes of death may also be classified in terms of preventable risk factors—such as smoking, unhealthy diet, and sexual behavior—which contribute to a number of different diseases. Such risk factors are usually not recorded directly on death certificates.

Leading causes worldwide

Leading causes of preventable death worldwide as of the year 2001.

Cause	Number of deaths resulting (millions per year)
Hypertension Hypertension Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...	7.8
Smoking tobacco	5.0
High cholesterol Hypercholesterolemia Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be caused by many diseases, notably cardiovascular disease...	3.9
Malnutrition Malnutrition Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....	3.8
Sexually transmitted disease Sexually transmitted disease Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex... s	3.0
Poor diet Diet (nutrition) In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...	2.8
Overweight Overweight Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...  and obesity Obesity Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...	2.5
Physical inactivity Sedentary lifestyle Sedentary lifestyle is a medical term used to denote a type of lifestyle with no or irregular physical activity. A person who lives a sedentary lifestyle may colloquially be known as a couch potato. It is commonly found in both the developed and developing world...	2.0
Alcohol Long-term effects of alcohol The long term effects of alcohol range from possible health benefits for low levels of alcohol consumption to severe detrimental effects in cases of chronic alcohol abuse...	1.9
Indoor air pollution Air pollution Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....  from solid fuels	1.8
Unsafe water Waterborne diseases Waterborne diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms which are directly transmitted when contaminated fresh water is consumed. Contaminated fresh water, used in the preparation of food, can be the source of foodborne disease through consumption of the same microorganisms...  and poor sanitation Sanitation Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...	1.6

Leading causes in the United States

Annual number of deaths in the United States and causes

Cause	Number	Percent of total	Notes
Smoking tobacco	435,000	18.1%
Being overweight Overweight Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...  and obesity Obesity Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...	111,909	4.6%	There was considerable debate about the differences in the numbers of obesity-related diseases. The numbers reported in the referenced article have been found to be the most accurate.
Alcohol Long-term effects of alcohol The long term effects of alcohol range from possible health benefits for low levels of alcohol consumption to severe detrimental effects in cases of chronic alcohol abuse...	85,000	3.5%
Infectious disease Infectious disease Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism... s	75,000	3.1%
Toxic agents including toxin Toxin A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded... s, particulates and radon Radon Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...	55,000	2.3%
Traffic collisions	43,000	1.8%
Firearms deaths Gun violence in the United States Gun violence in the United States is an intensely debated political issue in the United States. Gun-related violence is most common in poor urban areas and in conjunction with gang violence, often involving juveniles or young adults...	29,000	1.2%	Suicide Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse... : 16,586; homicide Homicide Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English... : 10,801; Accidents: 776; Legal intervention: 270; Unknown: 230
Sexually transmitted infections	20,000	0.8%
Drug abuse Drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...	17,000	0.7%

Leading causes among children worldwide

Various accidents are the leading cause of death in children 9 – 18 years of age. The top five worldwide unintentional injuries in children are as follows:

Cause	Number of deaths resulting
Traffic collision	260,000 per year
Drowning Drowning Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....	175,000 per year
Burn Burn A burn is an injury to flesh caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, light, radiation, or friction.Burn may also refer to:*Combustion*Burn , type of watercourses so named in Scotland and north-eastern England... s	96,000 per year
Falls Falling (accident) Falling is a major cause of personal injury, especially for the elderly. Builders, electricians, miners, and painters represent worker categories representing high rates of fall injuries. The WHO estimate that 392,000 people die in falls every year...	47,000 per year
Toxin Toxin A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded... s	45,000 per year

See also

• Suicide
  Suicide
  Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
  
  
• List of causes of death by rate
• Physical trauma#Common causes
• Preventive medicine
  Preventive medicine
  Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms...
  
  
• Public health
  Public health
  Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...