What causes natural death?

Globally, most deaths are considered natural. It was true a century ago and it is true today. The most common specific causes of natural deaths in the United States have shifted from the scourges of the early 1900s -- tuberculosis, influenza, diarrhea -- to modern killers such as heart disease and cancer. read more

A death by natural causes, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is the end result of an illness or an internal malfunction of the body not directly caused by external forces, typically due to old age. read more

The death certificate will list the disease process that is the most probable cause for the death and not necessarily “natural causes”. Reporting in the Media In reporting the death of a well-known individual for example, the media may be given “natural causes” as the only cause of death. read more

Any other cause is “natural.” According to the latest CDC data, 2,596,993 people died in the U.S. in 2013. The vast majority of those deaths, 92.5 percent, were of natural causes. Thankfully, the data is more detailed than that, though — there are 46 categories of natural causes of death listed, as well as 44 subcategories. read more