When do the most people die in Horry County? The month with the most deaths has shifted
The discussion of death can often be a taboo topic in society. But considering that it will eventually happen to all of us, when and how it happens has been a subject of many studies.
In Horry County, the when appears to be January. For a time that is known for new beginnings, the first month of the year is also the time when the most people die in the county.
The second deadliest month is in August, and the difference in the number of those who died is less than 30.
It was at one time thought that most deaths happened in the winter. But that’s not the case these days.
The number of deaths each month used to vary, according to Horry County Coroner Robert Edge. The trend was the summer months would be really busy and then it would drop off in September and October, Edge said.
“This day and time, it’s about the same from month to month,” Edge said.
Deaths have increased because of the number of people who now call the county home, Edge said. Horry County has been determined to be the fastest growing county in South Carolina.
In addition, the number of retirees and older residents who are making the move to Horry County has made a difference in the number of deaths, Edge said.
“That has been a big impact,” he said.
Majority of deaths are ages 75 and older
There were 565 deaths in January in Horry County for 2021, the latest numbers available, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
That’s followed by 538 deaths in August and 521 in September. The remaining months don’t differ much, as the average ranges from 364 to 435. The lowest number of deaths occurred in April at 364.
An average of 251,699 people in the U.S. died in January every year between 2010 and 2020, according to an analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database by Live Science, a science website that reports on research and discoveries.
The averages for other months for this time period, according to the analysis, ranged from 218,102 (August) and 242,475 (December).
The numbers for Horry County in 2020 and 2021 may reflect what was occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. For comparison, the SCDHEC report showed that December in 2019 had the highest number of deaths at 377, followed by 356 for November and 338 in August.
Statewide, December had the most deaths (6,137) and the least deaths occurred in February (4,377), according to SCDHEC.
Nearly 50% of the deaths reported statewide were people age 75 and older.
Deaths in Horry County increased over last five years
There is a difference in how deaths are reported by the state compared to the number of deaths reported by the county coroner.
The data provided by SCDHEC are for deaths of Horry County residents, even if the deaths occurred out of state, according to a spokesperson.
If a person’s primary residence is Horry County and the person died in another state, that information is required to be reported to South Carolina as the official record holder of vital statistics, but it’s not required to be reported to the county coroner.
There were 3,526 deaths last year in Horry County, according to the coroner’s office. SCDHEC reported that 4,755 people died in Horry County in 2020, the latest numbers available.
A month by month breakdown of those numbers was not available from the coroner’s office. The system that the coroner’s office currently uses doesn’t easily allow for that information, a spokesperson said.
But a look at the total number of deaths in Horry County in the last five years shows a steady increase.
2018 – 2,393
2019 - 2,512
2020- 3,287
2021 – 3,485
2022 – 3,526.
As of early March, there were 781 deaths so far this year.
Poisons top number of accidental deaths
The leading causes of death in South Carolina in 2020 were heart disease or some type of cancer, followed by COVID-19. The third cause of death was accidents.
In Horry County, 4,755 residents (this includes those who list the county as their residence) died in 2020. Of those numbers, 4,232 were white and 518 were Black or other designated race.
More males (2,608) died than females (2,147) in the county.
When it came to accidental deaths, surprisingly 198 occurrences of poisons happened in the county. Seventy-seven were transportation-related and 16 drownings.
The state reported 35 homicides, 31 among those were by firearms.
Funerals remain steady month by month
It appears that the majority of funeral homes in the Myrtle Beach area are consistent when it comes to funerals.
The funeral industry is estimated to be $20 billion a year and there are an estimated 2.4 million funerals that happen annually.
Funerals at McMillan-Small Funeral Home and Crematory in Myrtle Beach, which handles a wide-variety of calls and transports bodies all over the world for cremation, “stays pretty steady month to month,” according to funeral director Craig Thomas.
He said there isn’t really one month that is busier than the other.
“(It’s) not like your country, run-of-the-mill funeral home” that has more funerals in the winter, Thomas said.
Numbers have shown that more people are choosing cremation over burial.
The burial rate in the U.S. fell to 38% in 2020, according to Statista, an online statistics provider. It is projected that 64% of people will be cremated after their death in 2025, the company said.
In Horry County, 1,141 people chose burial compared to 3,125 who chose cremation, according to the SCDHEC report.
