New international data indicate that abortion accounted for more deaths worldwide in 2025 than any other single cause, with more than 73 million procedures performed globally during the year. The estimate is drawn from modeling by the World Health Organization and compiled by the global statistics platform Worldometers.
According to Worldometers’ analysis of WHO data, the global abortion rate stands at roughly 39 per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 49. The figures suggest that about 61% of unintended pregnancies—out of an estimated 121 million annually—end in abortion.
When compared with other major causes of mortality, abortion far exceeded them all in 2025. Cancer was responsible for approximately 10 million deaths, smoking-related illnesses for about 6.2 million, infectious diseases for roughly 17 million, and HIV/AIDS for around 2 million.
Worldometers also reported an estimated 140 million total deaths worldwide from all causes in 2025. Of that number, about 67.1 million deaths were attributed to causes other than abortion, meaning abortion accounted for nearly 52% of all recorded global deaths, a calculation highlighted by LifeNews.
In the United States, Worldometers estimates that between 1,500 and 2,500 abortions occur each day. Based on 2020 data from the Guttmacher Institute, this corresponds to a rate of 14.4 abortions per 1,000 women and indicates that roughly one in five pregnancies—excluding miscarriages—ends in abortion.
Although abortion rates in the U.S. have generally declined over the past decade, the overall numbers remain substantial. An estimated 930,160 abortions were performed nationwide in 2020 alone.
Cumulatively, the number of abortions in the United States since 1973 is estimated at about 66 million. That year marked the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which remained in effect until it was overturned in 2022.
The WHO’s global abortion estimates encompass both legal and illegal procedures and rely on large-scale statistical modeling. These updated figures revise earlier estimates from 2010 to 2014, when the annual global total was placed at approximately 56 million abortions.
Researchers note that the higher estimate reflects global population growth, increased access to abortion-inducing drugs, and more comprehensive methods for tracking procedures carried out outside formal medical systems.
