For the fourth consecutive year, abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide, with over 44 million babies lost. This figure represents a significant increase in the number of abortions compared to the number of deaths from infectious diseases, which nearly quadrupled in 2022. This observation was made by Ryan Foley for the Christian Post.
Worldometer, a database that monitors health, global population, and other metrics in real-time, continuously compiles data on the number of abortions worldwide. The most recent data from Worldometer, captured on December 31 by the internet archiving tool The Wayback Machine, indicates that over 44 million abortions occurred in 2022.
In 2022, communicable diseases were the second leading cause of death, with 13 million cases. Foley compared the toll taken by abortion, which is almost beyond comprehension and dwarfs all other causes.
“The deaths attributed to infectious diseases as well as the more than 8 million deaths caused by cancer, the approximately 5 million fatalities triggered by smoking, the roughly 2.5 million alcohol-related deaths and the nearly 2 million deaths caused by AIDS this year combined add up to less than the number of lives lost to abortion in 2022.
It is not surprising that abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States.
In the United States, where approximately 30% of pregnancies are unintended and 40% of these are terminated by abortion, there are between 1,500 and 2,500 abortions per day, according to Worldometers. Approximately 20% of all pregnancies in the United States (excluding miscarriages) result in an abortion. The Guttmacher Institute reports that 930,160 abortions were performed in the United States in 2020, with a rate of 14.4 per 1,000 women.
The total number of deaths worldwide in 2022 was just over 67 million, a figure that does not include the number of abortions. However, if the aforementioned figures were to be included, the number of global deaths in 2022 would exceed 100 million, as Foley has written. The total world population at the end of 2022 was estimated to be slightly above 8 billion.
In particular, there were 42.4 million abortions in 2019, 43.9 million abortions in 2020, and approximately 44 million abortions in 2021. The number of abortions performed in 2021 was approximately one million. The 2022 death toll from abortion was slightly higher than that of the previous year.
Although Worldometer cites a fact sheet from the World Health Organization as the source for its abortion statistics, the global organization has a considerably higher death toll. The WHO fact sheet estimates that approximately 73 million induced abortions occur globally each year. The World Health Organization (WHO) characterizes abortion as an essential health service.
The number of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic was estimated at 1,209,570 in a separate set of statistics compiled by Worldometer.
Foley added
Additional leading causes of death identified by the Worldometer include road traffic accident fatalities, which claimed more than 1 million lives last year, and suicides, numbering slightly more than 1 million. Over 800,000 people lost their lives due to water-related diseases last year, half a million people died because of the seasonal flu, nearly 400,000 people died of malaria and around 300,000 women died during childbirth.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
