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Interesting Facts About Death

Reading · 4 min read · First published 2003 · Updated November 2026

An old carved gravestone covered in ivy
Photo by Mr Xerty on Unsplash

Things to ponder.

Here are some interesting, and sometimes surprising, facts about death and dying. Where a popular claim turned out to be exaggerated, I have said so.

Numbers

In 2024, 20,162 people in the U.S. died by homicide. That works out to roughly one person every 26 minutes, or 5.9 deaths for every 100,000 people. When this page first ran in 2003, the figure was about 22,852 a year, or one every 23 minutes.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. It caused 683,491 deaths in 2024, followed by cancer at 619,876 and accidents (unintentional injuries) at 197,449. most common causes of death

Americans are living longer than many people expect. In 2024, life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 79.0 years overall: 76.5 for males and 81.4 for females.

The longest fully verified human life belongs to Jeanne Calment of Arles, France. She was born on February 21, 1875, and died on August 4, 1997, at 122 years and 164 days.

Myth and fact

Exaggerated: a tiny poison dart frog has enough poison to kill over 2,200 people. The golden poison frog is the most toxic of these frogs, and National Geographic reports that a wild one carries enough poison to kill about 10 adult men. That is still remarkable, but it is far from 2,200. Frogs raised in captivity lose their toxicity, because the poison comes from insects they eat in the wild.

Traditions around the world

In parts of Western Europe and the United States, especially in the 1700s and 1800s, families followed a custom called "telling the bees." When someone in the household died, a family member knocked on each hive and told the bees the news, so that the bees could share in the mourning. The hives were often draped in black crepe. In the Basque Country, which reaches into the western Pyrenees, people told the bees "Your master is dead," and sometimes covered the hive with black cloth.

In Mexico, families honor loved ones who have died on the Day of the Dead, held each year at the end of October and the beginning of November. They build home shrines where they place the favorite dishes of the person who died, along with flowers and paper cut-outs. UNESCO added the festivity to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

People have mourned animals for a very long time. Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York began in 1896, when a veterinarian, Dr. Samuel Johnson, let a grieving client bury her dog in his apple orchard. It is now called America's oldest working pet cemetery, and tens of thousands of animals rest there. A memorial to the dogs who served in World War I was unveiled there in 1923.

A comforting thought

Many hospice teams encourage families to keep talking to someone who can no longer respond. The National Institute on Aging notes that some doctors think people who are dying can still hear even if they are not conscious, and it suggests that you talk or read to them, even if they can't talk back. You do not have to know exactly what to say. Your voice, a familiar song or a quiet "I'm here" can be enough.

Sources

Written by Words to Comfort

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