List of causes of death by rate

The following is a list of the causes of human deaths worldwide for the year 2002, arranged by their associated mortality rates. There were 57,029,000 deaths tabulated for that year. Some causes listed include deaths also included in more specific subordinate causes (as indicated by the "Group" column), and some causes are omitted, so the percentages do not sum to 100. According to the World Health Organization, about 58 million people died in 2005.

Causes ranked by frequency
Note: tinted backgrounds indicate items that also appear in subsequent table.

Malnutrition as an underlying cause
Hunger and poor nutrition, directly or as an underlying cause for the fatal diseases listed above, causes 36 million deaths per year accounting for more than 1 death each second on average. Statistically, a child under five dies every 5 seconds on average as a direct or indirect result of poor nutrition. This is 6 million children per year, more than half of all child deaths.

Developed vs. developing economies
Top causes of death, according to the World Health Organization report for the calendar year 2001: