Every ended life is tragic, but when policy issues arise, often there are thousands of lives in the balance. How can one begin to think about such immense numbers? It is not enough to knee-jerk respond that any death must be absolutely avoided, because frequently no such choice is available. What to do, other than throw one's hands up and say it is a crazy, incomprehensible world?
What I do is carry around a few counts that I somewhat have a grasp of, and then use them to rank body counts when I hear of some new tragedy. So I can say things like, "this is about as bad as the tsunami in Indonesia". Here are the numbers I keep handy, along with links to sources for the numbers:
Yes, these numbers are exciting largely for Americans. I put these up just as examples; you should pick your own big events and research what the numbers are.
Each of these numbers is poignant to me. The deaths from car accidents in the US are interesting because they represent a risk that the general public has decided is acceptable. When one person says they are going to drive to the supermarket, their friends do not scream at them and say they are stepping into a death trap. While the risk is palpably present, it is low enough to be acceptable. Yet, cars kill over 40,000 people a year in the US.
Hitler's Holocaust turns out to be an end-point on the spectrum of human loss of life. It's not just a cliche -- that man literally killed off millions of people. And he did it all for a crazy idealistic search for a more perfect strain of humanity.
The Vietnam War is interesting to Americans whenever warfare comes up in policy decisions. Over the years of that quagmire we lost about 50% more than we lose in one year from car accidents.
Finally, the tsunami is interesting just as one datum on how powerful Mother Nature is when she strikes an area that is undeveloped by today's standards.
Given these calibration points, it then becomes possible to get a grasp of body counts in other recent events. I will close by listing a few from the top of my head, without comment, that have been relevant in US current events and policy debates. Hopefully this helps you put things in perspective, the same way it helps me.