Abortion is leading cause of death worldwide 7th consecutive year
Quick Summary
- Abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide for the seventh consecutive year.
- Over 45.2 million abortions were performed globally in 2025.
- Deaths from abortion exceeded fatalities from communicable diseases by more than three times.
Abortion remains the leading cause of death worldwide for the seventh year in a row, according to statistics compiled by Worldometer.
Worldometer, which keeps track of information about health, the global population and other metrics in real time, revealed that abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide in 2025. The last available screenshot of the Worldometer taken in 2025, captured by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine on Dec. 30, shows that more than 45.2 million abortions were performed in 2025. The final number of abortions performed could be higher, as the statistic don't include pregnancies terminated on the last day of the year.
The number of deaths caused by abortion was more than triple the number of fatalities caused by the second-leading cause of death in 2025: communicable diseases. Nearly 13 million people died from communicable diseases last year. Other leading causes of death in 2025 included cancer, which led to over 8 million fatalities, and smoking, which led to nearly 5 million fatalities. More than 7.5 million children younger than 5 died due to unspecified illnesses.
Nearly 2.5 million people lost their lives due to alcohol in 2025, while over 1.6 million people died because of HIV/AIDS. More than 1.3 million people were killed in road traffic accidents, and over 1 million people died by suicide.
Water-related illnesses led to the deaths of over 800,000 people, while the seasonal flu caused just over 500,000 deaths. Malaria led to nearly 400,000 deaths, and just over 300,000 mothers died during childbirth last year.
The overall number of deaths in 2025 was over 62 million. This figure doesn't include the number of abortions, which is greater than the combined fatalities caused by all the other leading causes of death combined.
Abortion has consistently remained the leading cause of death worldwide, dating back to 2019.
The number of abortions performed worldwide has consistently hovered between 40 million and 50 million in the past seven years. About 42.4 million abortions were performed in 2019. That number rose slightly to over 42.6 million in 2020 and 2021, before increasing to more than 44 million in 2022, more than 44.6 million in 2023 and about 45.1 million in 2024. The approximate number of lives lost to abortion in the past seven years adds up to more than 300 million, equivalent to nearly the entire population of the United States.
While data from Worldometer show that more than 45 million abortions were performed in 2025, statistics shared by the World Health Organization have an even higher estimate. A fact sheet compiled by the supranational organization and updated on Dec. 8, 2025, estimates that around 73 million abortions occur annually. The World Health Organization is listed as one of several sources that Worldometer uses to estimate the number of abortions worldwide, along with the Guttmacher Institute and The Lancet.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
