The deadliest plants on earth by deaths caused

There are thousands of different poisonous plants on earth and many of them have poisons so strong they are often impossible to survive. The reason that poisonous plants don’t cause that many deaths is because people aren’t exposed to them very often, like in the United States which has a population of over 330 million people, but only sees around 3 deaths from poisonous mushrooms every year. To determine the most dangerous plants by death count, we have to consider indirect deaths, which brings us to the first on the list which causes more deaths than all the other poisonous plants combined.

Tobacco

This highly addictive plant is responsible for around 8 million deaths each year and is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. It causes an early death in almost half of its users and can cause more illnesses than any other plant people consume. This plant is slowly being fazed out with changes in laws and the introduction of alternatives, but some countries are going to suffer for a long time with this one, like China for example. In 2019, around 35% of all male deaths were attributed to smoking-related illnesses, which is far more than any other country on earth.

The Coca Plant

This plant is native to the northern half of South America and has been used culturally by the native population for hundreds of years, spanning back to the Incas and Mayans who used to chew it for its stimulating properties. It’s not clear when exactly someone worked out how to purify it into cocaine, but the money involved has caused hundreds of criminal groups to turn several Central American countries into war zones. In 2021 there was an average of 91 murders every day in Mexico, with the vast majority of them being related to the violence that comes with organised crime. Each year in Mexico there are between 30 and 40 thousand murders, most of which are drug-related, but at the consumer end, the US averages about 35,000 deaths caused by overdoses.

The Poppy

This strange-looking flower can be made into several different illegal drugs that when combined, cause more deaths from overdoses than any other drug. It is easier to grow and can survive a more varied climate than other drug-producing plants and is highly addictive when in certain forms. There are fewer deaths through violence in Central America from this drug because all the different groups can produce it themselves and don’t need to compete as much, but its strength and addictiveness make it the biggest problem for its users. The United States is the biggest drug market in the world, with more consumers than any other country, and in 2019, the World Health Organization reported 125,000 people died from using opioid-based drugs.

Sugar

An unlikely one to make the list because it can be found everywhere, which is also the same reason it’s on the list. The delicious ingredient that makes things taste so good is one of the primary causes of diabetes, and a study conducted in 2013 by Harvard University found that there are around 180,000 deaths each year worldwide related to sugary drinks alone, with 25,000 of these being in the US. Sugar is also one of the leading causes of tooth rot and gum disease, with the latter being the primary cause of heart disease, one of the world’s biggest killers. It’s unclear how many deaths this plant is responsible for as people can develop the conditions it causes naturally, but it’s much deadlier than any mushroom or berry.