The ages of people who died in 2017.

I was a little shocked that it was only 56MM people. That’s only 0.8% of the population. It speaks to how young the global population is.

That first bar breaks my heart.

The rest of them aren't so surprising, although I agree that the total sounds really low.

Having spent a lot of time in a neonatal nursery with critically ill babies, I'd be interested in seeing how the information in that first bar would look if you broke out the neonatal period. My sense is that, worldwide, children who survive those months but not the first five years usually succumb to preventable causes like communicable diseases and hunger. In the neonatal period, though, prematurity kills a lot of children and it's not always preventable, and you also have the factor of birth defects that aren't compatible with life.

That first bar surely looks a lot better in countries with universal health care.

The number may be low because many deaths in the less developed world go uncounted.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
The number may be low because many deaths in the less developed world go uncounted.

Excellent point.