26 jobs that confront death more than others

Reuters

• Death is an inevitable part of human life.
• People in some jobs confront death more often than others.
• Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found 26 career that encounter, study, try to prevent, or help us understand and cope with death as a major part of the job.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Death is an inevitable part of human life. And people in some jobs confront death more often than others.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics program, we found the average annual pay and number of Americans employed as of May 2018, the most recent period for which data is available, for 26 occupations that encounter, study, try to prevent, or help us understand and cope with death as a major part of the job.

From protective workers like paramedics and police officers who sometimes tragically see death firsthand in the line of duty, to epidemiologists and actuaries studying causes and statistics of death, to the funeral directors and clergy who help us say goodbye to our loved ones, these careers all intimately touch the final stage of the human condition.

Here are the occupations, along with a description of what each job entails from the Department of Labor's O*NET occupational database: