73 million defenseless people were killed last year. Here’s why
More than 73 million abortions were performed worldwide in 2025, making abortion the leading cause of death last year. The figure draws on World Health Organization estimates compiled by the global data-tracking platform Worldometers.
The Worldometers total, based on a WHO fact sheet, places the annual global abortion rate at about 39 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49. It estimates that 61% of unintended pregnancies, out of 121 million per year, ended in abortion.
Compared to other causes of death, abortion exceeded all others by a wide margin. In 2025, cancer reportedly caused 10 million deaths, smoking-related illnesses 6.2 million, infectious diseases 17 million, and HIV/AIDS 2 million.
Worldometers, which tracks population growth, births, deaths, automobile production, book publications and CO2 emissions, among other data, reported a total of 140 million global deaths from all causes in 2025. Of these, 67.1 million were from causes other than abortion, meaning abortions accounted for nearly 52% of the total, as noted by LifeNews.
In the United States, Worldometers estimates between 1,500 and 2,500 abortions are performed each day. Based on 2020 data from the Guttmacher Institute, this reflects a rate of 14.4 abortions per 1,000 women and suggests that about 20% of all pregnancies, excluding miscarriages, end in abortion.
Although abortion rates have declined in the U.S. over the past decade, the total number remains high. An estimated 930,160 abortions were performed nationally in 2020.
The cumulative number of abortions in the United States since 1973 is estimated at 66 million. That year marked the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which was overturned in 2022.
WHO’s global abortion estimate includes both legal and illegal procedures. It is based on comprehensive modeling that updates earlier figures from 2010 to 2014, when the estimate stood at 56 million annually.
The updated estimate reflects population growth and wider access to abortion pills, along with improved data collection related to unregulated procedures.
The Worldometers abortion tally is published in real time and based on WHO modeling rather than direct counts.
The final figure for 2025 was reported this week.
Each abortion in the 73 million figure represents a terminated pregnancy, and biological details about fetal development are cited by pro-life advocates as grounds for opposition.
An annual March for Life event is scheduled in Washington, D.C., this month to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and advocate for expanded legal protections for unborn children.
