- Pneumonia is the leading cause of death for children under 5 — more than 800,000 children died due to pneumonia in 2017.
- 15,000 children die every day – Child mortality is an everyday tragedy of enormous scale that rarely makes the headlines
- Cancer is one of the leading causes of death.
- Air pollution is one of the world’s leading risk factors for death, attributed to 5 million deaths each year.
- Outdoor air pollution is one of the leading risk factors for premature death. It’s responsible for 3.4 million deaths each year.
- Diarrheal diseases were the third leading cause of death of children younger than 5 in 2017 and are becoming an increasing burden in people aged 70 and over.
- Obesity is one of the leading risk factors for premature death. It was linked to 4.7 million deaths globally in 2017.
- Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. The second biggest cause are cancers.
- Smoking is one the leading risks for early death – 8 million people died from smoking in 2017.
- Illicit drug use is – directly and indirectly – responsible for over 750,000 deaths per year.
- Illicit drug use is responsible for 585,000 premature deaths by increasing the risk of particular disease and injury.
- Vaccination coverage has improved greatly over the past decades, but globally 13.5 million children were not vaccinated in 2018
- Vaccines are one of the most successful and cost-effective ways to prevent diseases
- Globally 800,000 people die from suicide every year – that’s twice the number from homicide.
