Firearms are responsible for 26% of all non-natural deaths. This figure equals that for traffic deaths. Since it is estimated that approximately 60 000 non-natural deaths occur in South Africa each year, this amounts to some 15 600 people dying annually as a result of firearms. Sharp objects (e.g., knives, broken bottles) account for 17%. The category of other includes 20 different causes, each of which account for a small number of deaths. The most significant of these other causes are blunt objects (e.g., bricks, knobkieries, fists and other body parts) which account for 6% of all deaths, burns which account for 4%, and drowning which account for 3%.

As shown below, the cause of death differs according to location. The ten mortuaries represent five of the nine provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZuluNatal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and North West Province. The graph shows that out of these five provinces, the greatest proportion of deaths involving firearms occur in KwaZulu-Natal (32%), followed by Gauteng (29%), and the least occur in North West Province (13%). The greatest proportion of traffic-related deaths also occur in KwaZulu-Natal (30%) followed by Gauteng (27%), while the proportion of deaths due to sharp objects such as knives is highest in the North West Province (23%). This information has implications for policy makers and the choices they make regarding strategies to reduce deaths in different locations.

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