Thailand tops Australian death list

By Will Jackson, ninemsn

More Australians die in Thailand than in any other foreign country.

Figures released by the Department of Foreign Affairs for the period 2006 to 2011 show 430 Australian citizens died in the popular tourist destination.

Of those, 163 died of illness, 69 in accidents, and 66 of natural causes, while the cause of death was unknown or unlisted in 132 cases.

Vietnam was the country with the second highest number of deaths with 300 and Greece had the third highest with 284.

Most of Vietnam's deaths were from illness (151) while the majority in Greece were from natural causes (197).

A spokeswoman from DFAT said there were as many as 96,000 Australians living in or visiting Greece last year.

"The numbers of natural deaths need to be viewed in that context," she said.

South-East Asia has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this year following several tourists' deaths in Laos and the stabbing murder of Perth travel agent Michelle Smith in Phuket.

According to the statistics Laos makes up only a small percentage of overseas travel deaths, with 56 deaths listed in the country between 2006 and 2011.

Over the same period a total of 4,552 Australians died in overseas locations.

A DFAT spokeswoman said that in cases where the data could potentially identify a specific person and breach the Privacy act, the cause of death was listed as "other".

Source and charts: http://news.ninemsn....ller-death-list

-- ninemsn.com.au 2012-07-26

Thanks for sharing that.

Interesting reading. 430 deaths over a 5 year period.

A lot of 'Accidental' and 'Illness'

Wow, unknown causes of death in US: 12

Thailand: 112

Thanks for sharing that.

Interesting reading. 430 deaths over a 5 year period.

A lot of 'Accidental' and 'Illness'

about 2 austrialian die every week here in thailand

26% of the Thailand deaths listed as unknown cause...

Wow, unknown causes of death in US: 12

Thailand: 112

And why is that surprising. The sophistication and availability of required postmortem testing is unlikely to be on the same level now, is it? The Democratic Republic of Congo, despite having a similar population to Thailand, probably has an exponentially higher incidence of death with no known cause. Why? Read the second sentence.

Wow, unknown causes of death in US: 12

Thailand: 112

And why is that surprising. The sophistication and availability of required postmortem testing is unlikely to be on the same level now, is it? The Democratic Republic of Congo, despite having a similar population to Thailand, probably has an exponentially higher incidence of death with no known cause. Why? Read the second sentence.

Only 12% of the Vietnam deaths listed as unknown cause...more advanced medical and testing procedures than available in Thailand perhaps...

Only 12% of the Vietnam deaths listed as unknown cause...more advanced medical and testing procedures than available in Thailand perhaps...

The testing procedures in Thailand are certainly not inferior. More probably, the "why should we care" attitude is the reason for the high number of unknown causes there.

And without doing any testing by myself, most causes in Laos are alcohol abuse at Vang Vieng.

Results have to be understood in the context that many people come here to retire (and die). But even so, the vehicular accident rate in Thailand is ridiculous.

Better not report this... otherwise you will get in trouble for making Thailand look bad and causing it to have less tourists...

Thanks for sharing that.

Interesting reading. 430 deaths over a 5 year period.

A lot of 'Accidental' and 'Illness'

about 2 austrialian die every week here in thailand

Im sure at least 1 a week on ko Samui,Thailands most dangerous place to visit,im sure.

It's hard to extract any meaning from these statistics. The numbers should have been normalized to the amount of visitors, or even "man-hours" spent in Thailand. And regarding the illness category, many people retire here and eventually do die here, hopefully of an age-related illness after a full, long life.

Thailand, international hub of unexplained foreign deaths!

Hubtastic hub pickers

if every goes on holiday to thailand you'll get more deaths in Thailand. What about relative numbers compared to the number of aussies living and coming to thailand. Wonder if it still hits the number 1 position then. Just reporting a number doesn't mean anything.... More people have died in China last year than in Luxemburg, no shit, China has about 10000 times more people.

163 died of illness (Cirrosis of the Liver), 69 in accidents (Falling down drunk), and 66 of natural causes (Aussie pasttime, it's just natural), while the cause of death was unknown ( too drunk to remember) or unlisted in 132 cases.

Sorry Mates.

hub of death, or am i too late to claim dibs ?

It's hard to extract any meaning from these statistics. The numbers should have been normalized to the amount of visitors, or even "man-hours" spent in Thailand. And regarding the illness category, many people retire here and eventually do die here, hopefully of an age-related illness after a full, long life.

Those that retire and die would be classed as death by natural causes.

This data is fairly meaningless without the 'days spent in country times people' figure.

Which would give you your chance of dying in Thailand as a foreign visitor vs. any other country (per day)

i.e.

Countries listed by chance of dying as a tourist: (Thailand doesn't appear in the top 20).

e.g: Australia kicks in at 18 because:

"When you visit Australia, you may find yourself facing one of the ten most poisonous snakes in the world, one of many different types of deadly spiders or even deadly sea creatures. In fact, most consider Australia to be the place where you are most likely to get attacked by wildlife in one way or another."

Russia is at 9. (Don't visit the Caucasus!)

"The Caucasus region of Russia is highly unstable, making certain areas of the country best to avoid. In areas such as Degestan and North Ossetia, open guerilla warfare is still a regular occurrence. Travelers are often kidnapped for ransom and terrorists regularly attack government buildings, hotels, and even schools."

1. Iraq

2. Afghanistan

3. Pakistan

4. Somalia

5. Papua New Guinea

6. Colombia

7. Sudan

8. Burundi

9. Russia

10. Haiti

11. Liberia

12. Congo

13. Zimbabwe

14. Georgia

15. Cote D'Ivoire

16. Venezuela

17. Dominican Republic

18. Australia

19. Taiwan

20. New Zealand

Source: http://allwomenstalk.com/top-dangerous-places-to-go-on-vacation/

Results have to be understood in the context that many people come here to retire (and die). But even so, the vehicular accident rate in Thailand is ridiculous.

I would consider the US annual road death toll of 40,000/year to be more ridiculous considering much more strigent and high tech law enforcement, less corruption and supposedly better standards of driver testing etc.

So falling out of a locked, unbroken window with a knife stuck in your back is defined as an accident or natural causes here? Just checking

So whats the conclusion, other than if enough come; some will die. Doesn't look too out of line given the lifestyles some people choose.

Again statistics seen in isolation. To get the correct view of Thailand versus the other countries visited you must compare the deaths as a percentage or per 100 000 visitors. The Australian death rate in Australia was 688 per 100 000 people in 2011 (CIA factbook). In 2011, 854 000 Australians visited Thailand of which 69 died, which gives you a death rate of 8,08 per 100 000 people. Thus it's better for Australians to stay in Thailand than in their own country. Unfortunately I could not get the Australian tourist info for 2011 for Vietnam to do a similar comparison.

Thanks for sharing that.

Interesting reading. 430 deaths over a 5 year period.

A lot of 'Accidental' and 'Illness'

about 2 austrialian die every week here in thailand

Im sure at least 1 a week on ko Samui,Thailands most dangerous place to visit,im sure.

Please tell me where you get your info from have been living on the island for many years and what you are stating is utter garbage Samui is not the most dangerous place to visit !!!!!!!

Results have to be understood in the context that many people come here to retire (and die). But even so, the vehicular accident rate in Thailand is ridiculous.

I would consider the US annual road death toll of 40,000/year to be more ridiculous considering much more strigent and high tech law enforcement, less corruption and supposedly better standards of driver testing etc.

With 200 million of them with a cell phone glued to their ear, or updating their facebook page behind the wheel, sounds like a quarterly number to me. But of course this is about Assie's and the Thai meaning of accident, I dont think that means road accidents.

hub of death, or am i too late to claim dibs ?

Way to late.

"Thailand Tops Australian Death List"

An utterly ridiculous headline. Lies, bloody lies, etc.

Wow, unknown causes of death in US: 12

Thailand: 112

And why is that surprising. The sophistication and availability of required postmortem testing is unlikely to be on the same level now, is it? The Democratic Republic of Congo, despite having a similar population to Thailand, probably has an exponentially higher incidence of death with no known cause. Why? Read the second sentence.

Only 12% of the Vietnam deaths listed as unknown cause...more advanced medical and testing procedures than available in Thailand perhaps...

NO... poisioning is not counted in deaths over there.

Not one post blaming the politicians or the BIB straight......................What's happening?????????????????

Come on, how many Australians visit or live in Thailand. The percentage is more important than the numbers. As a percentage it is possibly lower than other foreign nations. "How to lie with Stats" To me one is too many, but it is all part of life.

Out of the 20 countries on the list above, only make it my personal list: Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan.

The rest of the gang banger Kuntries don't qualify for the ink flowing out of my pen.