Death and Design from A Very Short List

From our friends at A Very Short List: "Late last week, The Guardian’s Simon Rogers posted a crisp, color-coded representation of mortality rates in England and Wales. The data are comparable to statistics provided by our own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—but the layout here tells us how fascinating these numbers really are.

Mortality Statistics Graph 001

“If you want to find out how many people died after being bitten by bees,” Rogers writes, “this is the place to look.” The graphic also tells you how many people died from falls—down stairs or steps, or out of buildings and structures—accidental poisonings, and plain old “malaise.” The big killers (cancers, circulatory diseases, respiratory disorders) claim the most space: They’re just what you’d expect them to be. But the smallest tendrils raise more interesting questions, and tell the most interesting stories."