Abortion Was the Leading Cause of Death Worldwide in 2024, Killing 73 Million People

By: Steven Ertelt, originally published Jan 2, 2025, LifeNews.com

More human beings died in abortions than any other cause of death in 2024.

A heartbreaking reminder about the prevalence of abortion,  statistics compiled by Worldometers  indicate that there were over 73 million abortions world-wide in 2024. The independent site collects data from governments and other organizations and then reports the data each day, along with estimates and projections, based on those numbers.

Worldometers bases its daily abortion figures on a May 2024  fact sheet from the World Health Organization, which estimates a tragically high number of babies killed in abortions.

“Around 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide each year,” the WHO says.

Abortion is also the leading cause of death in the United States.

“In the USA, where nearly 30% of pregnancies are unintended and 40% of these are terminated by abortion, there are between 1,500 to 2,500 abortions per day. Nearly 20% of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Guttmacher Institute reports 930,160 abortions performed in 2020 in the United States, with a rate of 14.4 per 1,000 women,” Worldometers reports.

When contrasting the abortion numbers to other causes of death, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, traffic accidents and suicide, abortions far outnumbered every other cause. By contrast, an estimated 10 million people died from cancer in 2024, 6.2 million from smoking, 17 million from disease, and 2 million died of HIV/AIDS. Deaths by malaria and alcohol are also recorded.

With 67.1 million people dying last year from a cause other than abortion and 140 million people dying in total from abortion and all causes, that means abortions accounted for almost 52% of every death around the world last year.

Unborn babies are not recognized as human beings even though biology indicates that  they are unique, living human beings from the moment of conception  and they die brutal, violent deaths in abortions.

The abortion number is incomprehensible, but each of those 73 million abortions worldwide in 2024 represents a living human being whose life was violently destroyed in their mother’s womb. Each unborn baby already had their own unique DNA, making them distinct from their mother. That DNA indicated if the child was a boy or girl, their eye and hair color, their height, possible genetic disorders and other disabilities, and much more. In most cases,  the unborn babies’ hearts are beating  when they are aborted, too.

In America, just under 1 million babies are aborted every year. Though  abortion rates have been dropping in the past decade, abortion remains  the leading cause of death in the United States  as well.

An estimated 66 million unborn babies have been killed in abortions in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade in 1973. In January, pro-life advocates will gather for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. to remember the anniversary of that infamous decision and call for restored protections for the unborn.

Steven Ertelt is the founder and Editor of LifeNews.com, and has provided the pro-life community with news via the Internet since 1993.

Image from LifeSite News.

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