Good News: Murder No Longer a Leading Cause of Death

We’ve got statistics for everything, any sports fan knows this. One interesting statistic came out of our government’s recent analysis of mortality trends for 2010.

The good news is that deaths caused by murder have dropped off the chart of the Top 15 causes of death. Actually, murder rates peaked in the mid ’70’s. Some would say this drop in homicide rates is the result of the end of the crack cocaine epidemic, or the large amount of citizens in prison. I would beg to differ with the opinions regarding the prison population–and you know what they say about opinions. We have the largest prison population on Earth. Shouldn’t China, Russia, or Iran top that list? Plenty of countries with low prison populations also have low crime rates (most of Europe, for example)–so I’m not buying it.

Just in case you’re curious, here’s the top 15 causes of death for 2010: 1) heart disease, 2) cancer, 3) chronic lower respiratory diseases, 4) stroke, and 5) accidents, 6) Alzheimer’s, 7) diabetes, 8) nephritis, 9) pneumonia, 10) suicide, 11) septicemia, 12) liver disease, 13) hypertension, 14) Parkinson’s disease, and 15) pneumonitis (for more depressing stats from our government, click here.).

I’ve been to a few funerals in my day, though my mom tells me I’m not at that age where it’s a regular thing (she’s right). At one funeral I recently attended, the preacher never questioned why God had taken the young lady, he just asked me to think about why God has decided to keep me here on earth. Every now and then I think about that purpose. And, when I figure it out, I’ll let you know.