More than 100 billion people have lived and died since the dawn of humanity. We see our near and dear ones who were once part of our everyday life, leaving us forever. Most human beings cannot comprehend that one day they will also have to leave this world, deep down no one believes that one day they will also die and they will also be taken to the graveyard for burial or for cremation.

In mammals expected lifespan can vary 100-fold, from shrews that live for 1.5 years to the whales that can live for more than 200 years. Natural selection has somehow pushed certain creatures to evolve and extend their life.

Out of the world population of 7.7 billion, approximately 58 million people die each year, 151,600 people die each day, 6,316 people die each hour, 105 people die each minute, and nearly two people die each second.

Most human beings don’t want to die and want to prolong their life as much as possible, even some want to live forever by some miracle of science in the future. Even those who are convinced that they are very pious and will go to heaven don’t want to die to go there.

Someday it will all come to an end; there will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you owned will pass to your heirs. Your wealth, fame and power will be irrelevant. It will not matter what you owned. Your competition with others, grudges and jealousies will disappear. Your ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will not be significant. It won’t matter what your nationality was, or which political party you supported or fought for. It won’t matter whether you were smart, rich, poor, beautiful or brilliant. As they say death is the great equalizer.

Death is feared and rarely spoken about in all cultures; we all know that death is inevitable. Everyone who is born will die sooner or later, no living being can evade death, it is the ultimate truth the final destination we all share, and there is no cheating in death. We have no other choice, No escape and no proxy in death.

There is no age limit for death. One may die soon after one’s birth or at any age. Life travels at a galloping pace; we do not have any control on time. Left to them every human being wants to live forever, without realizing that without death life would have been a very dull affair.

Human beings have shelf life that expires one day. What is the purpose of the birth and then death; this has been explained by different religions and philosophers in their own way, according to their understanding, knowledge, philosophy and beliefs everyone is free to believe in whatever they consider is correct.

There is no reason to fear death, for a believer, he shall enter into a more extensive and eternal world, and that he shall be also liberated from the greed, worries and material shackles, so why be afraid of natural transition that is called death. For non-believers as there is nothing after death so why worry as all troubles will be over after death.

Death has also been referred to as a bridge, over which people, shall cross and reach their goal, which is the other world. In some other traditions, death has been compared to sleep, in which the soul goes out of the body. The only fundamental difference between sleep and death is that the coming out of the soul from the body in death.

Why do we need to know the reasons why people die?

Measuring how many people die each year, and why they died is one of the most important means for devising lifestyle changes and making wellness and healthcare programs for preventing the diseases which kill us prematurely.

(To be continued)