The annual mortality statistics published by the Office for National Statistics are out today for 2010 - and provides an incredibly detailed breakdown of the most morbid dataset imagineable.

We may worry about murders or swine flu, but the big killers of heart disease and cancer are much more significant in terms of public health. What is also striking is how constant many of these numbers of deaths are - why do around 17,000 people die each year in accidents, for instance? Why do around 200 people accidentally drown every year?

Besides the graphic above (which you can download as a PDF), we've summarised two of the datasets below: major causes of death and deaths from external causes - ie, accidents or assaults. If you want to find out how many people died after being stung by bees or falling down stairs, this is the place to look.

Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley says the striking thing is the numbers dying of dementia and Alzheimers - which are confusingly listed separately on the ONS spreadsheet but rightly put together in the analysis.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show an 11.% rise in dementia deaths in the last year – between 2009 and 2010 - to a total of 25,106. More than two-thirds – 18,349 - were in women, in part because they live longer than men. Alzheimer's and dementia are now the third leading cause of death for women, after heart disease and stroke. Falls in other, more preventable and treatable, diseases are largely responsible for a 26% rise in dementia deaths over the five years between 2005 and 2010. In the same period, heart disease deaths dropped by 30% in women. Diseases of the urinary system – also linked to old age – increased by 8.1% in that time and lung cancer deaths rose by 3.5%, as smoking continued to take its long-term toll, but most other trends were down. Among men, deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's have risen by 21% between 2005 and 2010, while liver disease has show the other significant increase – up 3%. As in women, heart disease deaths fell substantially over the same period – by 26% - but they are still the leading cause of death, killing 40,721 men in 2010 and accounting for 17% of all male deaths. Dementia comes eighth among the leading causes of male deaths, accounting for 7,347 last year

Essentially, other causes of death are going down - and people have to die of something.

And, whatever we may worry about, this is one of the safest times to be alive, ever - as the chart below shows.

The data itself comes from death certificates and records the primary cause of death - which is why the influenza numbers are lower than other estimates. If you get flu, which then lowers your resistance enough for pneumonia to kill you, for instance, pneumonia would be the main cause of death recorded.

The NHS has visualised previous years' data already with its atlas of risk.



Can you do something better? The full data is below for you to download.

Data summary

Major causes of death, 2010 Click heading to sort table. Download this data Cause of death MALE FEMALE 2010 TOTAL Rate per 100,000 pop % change, 2009-10 All causes, all ages 237,916 255,326 493,242 892.90 0.39 All causes, ages under 28 days 1,184 964 2,148 -4.58 All causes, ages 28 days and over 236,732 254,362 491,094 0.41 Circulatory diseases 77,260 80,824 158,084 286.17 -1.06 Cancers and neoplasms 74,267 67,179 141,446 256.05 0.68 Respiratory diseases 31,563 35,713 67,276 121.79 -0.42 Digestive diseases 12,164 13,498 25,662 46.46 1.71 Mental and behavioural disorders 6,299 13,617 19,916 36.05 10.52 Death not caused by disease 10,545 6,656 17,201 31.14 -3.79 Diseases of the nervous system 8,551 9,932 18,483 33.46 6.18 Genitourinary diseases 4,893 7,513 12,406 22.46 3.40 Other causes 2,534 7,334 9,868 17.86 6.76 Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases 3,232 3,953 7,185 13.01 0.87 Infectious and parasitic diseases 2,284 2,753 5,037 9.12 -12.40 Musculoskeletal system 1,352 2,813 4,165 7.54 0.58 Skin diseases 629 1,240 1,869 3.38 1.08 Congenital diseases and chromasomal abnormalities 604 585 1,189 2.15 -5.71 Blood diseases and immune systems 415 602 1,017 1.84 -0.88 Babies dying before, during or after birth 126 98 224 0.41 -5.49 Pregnancy and childbirth 35 35 0.06 -44.44 Diseases of the ear and mastoid process 9 11 20 0.04 -31.03 Diseases of the eye and adnexa 5 6 11 0.02 120.00

Accidents and external causes Click heading to sort table. Download this data No. Cause Type MALE FEMALE 2010 2009 2008 1 External causes of morbidity TOTAL 10,545 6,656 17,201 17,878 18,048 2 Death from injury or poisoning, not known if deliberate or not TOTAL 249 105 354 386 420 3 Accidents total Acc. 6,354 5,084 11,438 11,917 12,231 4 Transport accidents total Acc., transport 1,453 517 1,970 2,284 2,676 5 Pedestrian injured in transport accident Acc., transport, pedest. 265 133 398 469 604 6 Pedestrian in collision with cycle Acc., transport, pedest. 2 2 0 3 7 Pedestrian in collision with motorbike Acc., transport, pedest. 3 2 5 10 22 8 Pedestrian in collision with car or van Acc., transport, pedest. 85 48 133 153 260 9 Pedestrian in collision with lorry or bus Acc., transport, pedest. 32 23 55 79 85 10 Pedestrian injured hit by train Acc., transport, pedest. 33 6 39 35 48 11 Cyclist in transport accident Acc., transport, cycle 73 23 96 113 118 12 Cyclist injured in collision with car or van Acc., transport, cycle 24 3 27 27 36 13 Motorcyclist in transport accident Acc., transport, m' cycle 329 18 347 431 477 14 Motorcyclist in collision with car or van Acc., transport, m' cycle 78 4 82 118 163 15 Car occupant injured in transport accident Acc., transport, car 550 258 808 922 1,111 16 Car occupant injured in collision with car or van Acc., transport, car 67 37 104 116 173 17 Car occupant in collision with stationary object Acc., transport, car 161 42 203 223 297 18 Water transport accidents Acc., transport 10 4 14 23 29 19 Air and space transport accidents Acc., transport 19 3 22 40 21 20 Falls total Acc., Fall 1,853 1,796 3,649 3,593 3,459 21 Fall on and from stairs and steps Acc., Fall 351 304 655 644 642 22 Fall on and from ladder Acc., Fall 47 6 53 55 60 23 Fall from, out of or through building/structure Acc., Fall 75 16 91 93 112 24 Fall from cliff Acc., Fall 9 9 18 5 25 Inanimate objects Inan. Obj 106 26 132 138 125 26 Struck by thrown, projected or falling object Inan. Obj 30 6 36 39 38 27 Animate objects total Animals, people 12 11 23 24 24 28 Hit, struck, kicked, twisted, bitten or scratched by another Animals, people 4 3 7 2 5 29 Bitten by rat Animals 0 0 0 30 Bitten by dog Animals 3 3 5 4 31 Bitten or struck by other mammals Animals 4 3 7 9 8 32 Accidental drowning total Acc. Drown 170 47 217 205 195 33 In bath tub Acc. Drown 9 20 29 33 22 34 Drowning in swimming pool, or falling in Acc. Drown 3 3 9 1 35 Drowning in natural water Acc. Drown 58 10 68 42 50 36 Other accidental threats to breathing Acc. Suff 383 244 627 654 638 37 Accidental suffocation in bed Acc. Suff 2 3 5 11 11 38 Accidental hanging/strangulation Acc. Suff 169 45 214 254 253 39 Inhalation of stomach contents Choking 59 54 113 98 108 40 Inhalation and ingestion of food Choking 100 103 203 182 176 41 Exposure to electric current, radiation and extreme ambient air temperature and pressure total Atmos 35 2 37 33 21 42 Exposure to smoke, fire and flames Atmos 123 114 237 279 282 43 Contact with heat and hot substances Atmos 6 11 17 34 24 44 Contact with hornets, wasps and bees Atmos, insects 3 2 5 4 2 45 Exposure to forces of nature Atmos, nature 68 61 129 125 119 46 Exposure to excessive natural cold Atmos, nature, cold 68 61 129 117 108 47 Victim of lightning Atmos 0 1 0 48 Accidental poisoning total Acc. Poison 1,076 447 1,523 1,537 1,429 49 Exposure to narcotics and hallucinogens Acc. Poison 508 115 623 648 580 50 Accidental alcohol poisoning Acc. Poison 130 58 188 179 170 51 Lack of food Starv- ation 3 3 6 6 5 52 Intentional self-harm Suicide, harm 2,613 764 3,377 3,457 3,438 53 Hanging/strangulation Suicide, harm 1,664 347 2,011 2,079 2,045 54 Assault TOTAL 211 108 319 318 338 55 Complications of medical and surgical care TOTAL 218 215 433 462 366

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