The top 10 causes of death
Cited in 3 Likelier entries (3 risks, 0 decisions).
Used in 3 entries
For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.
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COVID-19 was directly responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2021, emerging as the second leading cause of death globally
“"COVID-19 was directly responsible for 8.8 million deaths in 2021, and consequently, largely pushed down other leading causes of death by one place. [...] COVID-19 emerging as the second leading causes of death globally."”
Calculation notes
WHO's fact sheet establishes 2021 as the peak COVID-19 mortality year with 8.8 million directly attributed deaths globally, making COVID-19 the second leading cause of death that year behind ischaemic heart disease. Combined with the Wang et al. excess-mortality work, which puts 2020-2021 excess deaths at ~18.2 million, this anchors the acute-phase scale used in the normalized calculation. The WHO top-10 fact sheet and the Wang et al. analysis share upstream vital-registration data so are not fully independent — treat as a combined authoritative baseline.
Independence note: WHO fact sheet and Wang et al. Lancet analysis both draw on the same national vital-registration pipeline through the WHO Global Health Estimates framework. Treat as partially dependent.
Source date: 2024-08-07 · Accessed: 2026-04-11
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Ischaemic heart disease is the world's biggest killer, responsible for 13% of global deaths (~9.1 million) in 2021
“"The world's biggest killer is ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 13% of the world's total deaths. [...] rising by 2.7 million to 9.1 million deaths in 2021. [...] The top global causes of death, in order of total number of lives lost, are associated with two broad topics: cardiovascular (ischaemic heart disease, stroke) and respiratory (COVID-19, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections)."”
Calculation notes
9.1 million deaths/year divided by ~6.0 billion adults (age 18+) = 1.52 per 1,000 adults/year. Compounded over 60 adult years: 1 − (1 − 1.52e-3)^60 ≈ 0.087, adjusted to 0.085 for competing mortality. WHO notes ischaemic heart disease has shown "the largest increase in deaths" of any leading cause since 2000, driven primarily by population growth and ageing rather than rising age-standardised per-capita risk.
Independence note: WHO Global Health Estimates draw on national vital-registration systems and the IHME Global Burden of Disease modelling pipeline; not fully independent from GBD / AHA statistics that share the same upstream.
Source date: 2024-08-07 · Accessed: 2026-04-11
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Stroke responsible for approximately 10% of global deaths in 2021 (≈6.5-6.8 million), third leading cause of death worldwide
“"The world's biggest killer is ischaemic heart disease, responsible for 13% of the world's total deaths. [...] Instead of being the second and third leading causes of death as in 2019, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease became the third and fourth in 2021, responsible for approximately 10% and 5% of total deaths, respectively. [...] The top global causes of death, in order of total number of lives lost, are associated with two broad topics: cardiovascular (ischaemic heart disease, stroke) and respiratory (COVID-19, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lower respiratory infections)."”
Calculation notes
WHO reports 68 million total deaths globally in 2021; stroke at ~10% implies roughly 6.8 million annual stroke deaths. Across ~5.5 billion adults (age 18+), that is ~1.24 per 1,000 adults per year. Compounded over 60 adult years: 1 - (1 - 1.24e-3)^60 ≈ 0.072, adjusted to 0.067 for competing mortality. COVID-19 displaced stroke from #2 to #3 in 2020-2021; pre-pandemic baselines in GBD and WSO data place stroke solidly at #2, and most forecasts expect stroke to return to #2 as COVID recedes.
Independence note: WHO Global Health Estimates draw on national vital-registration and IHME / GBD modelling pipelines, so this figure is not fully independent of Feigin et al. / GBD stroke estimates. Used here as the canonical institutional source.
Source date: 2024-08-07 · Accessed: 2026-04-11
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