Near-Life Experiences

So-called near-death experiences are really encounters with the Light.
They occur to people during meditative or spiritual experiences,
not just during life-threatening trauma.
Perhaps a better name then is Near-Life Experiences

Statistical Summary of Near-Death
Experience Reports
Based upon reports from the International Association
for Near-Death Studies (IANDS)

By Vince Migliore
May, 2007
 

I. Executive Summary

A. Summary

A sample of 787 near-death experience (NDE) reports collected by the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS)
are summarized in this document. Accounts date from the 1960s to 2001. The sample is not representative of the US population, as it was
collected over the Internet, by mail, and by verbal reports from around the world. Respondents are more often female and in the younger
age groups than both the US and world populations. The sheer number of cases, however, makes this a valuable resource for researchers
and investigators. The database of reports supplied by IANDS required editing and coding in order to adapt it to statistical data processing.

This summation of survey results lists major findings and cross-tabulations, without speculation or attempts to formulate a theory of how
NDEs relate to human or spiritual experiences.

 Some of the more interesting significant cross-tabulations appear below. For further details see the cross-tab notes after each table,
and in the appendices.

• Most NDE events are considered wonderful, 54.0%, while 37.3% have mixed perceptions. Only 8.6% describe their experience as frightening.
• Sometimes, an important finding is that there are no significant differences between groups. No differences in near-death experiences were found for
  white versus non-white respondents.  Similarly, there were very few differences between those experiences occurring  inside versus outside of the
  United States.  
• The NDE contains many common elements. Two thirds report an out-of-body experience, and almost as many see a light. More than half report strong
  emotional tone and receiving knowledge. Almost half report seeing unearthly beings.
• The out-of-body experience is more often reported by those under 40 years of age. For the total sample 67.7% report an out-of-body episode,
  but this is significantly lower at 59.6% for those aged 40 to 49, and 48.4% for those 50 and older. The highest incidence is 76.2% in the 10 to 19
  year age group. An out-of-body is also more often associated with clinical death, 75.1% versus 63.0% for those with a non-life threatening event.
• Encountering unearthly beings is higher for females, 53.1%, compared to males, 40.3%.
• Reports of both darkness and void drop off significantly after age 50. Darkness and void are higher for those reporting a frightening experience.
• A life review is least common for those aged 50 and over. Their rate of reporting is 10.9%, about half of the total sample, 21.6%. The life review is
  also higher for those who report clinical death.
• Changes in feelings about death are reported highest for those who also report a wonderful experience, 86.5% versus 75.4% for those with a frightening
  experience. It was also highest for those who reported clinical death, 87.8% compared to 83.0% for the whole sample.
• The development of healing and psychic abilities is significantly higher among women, 71.4%, compared to men, 60.7%. Such abilities occur most often
  for those who report clinical death, 75.5%, compared to 61.9% for those with a non-life threatening experience.

II.  Sample Considerations

A. Sampling Error

The reports submitted to the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) represent a convenience sample, as self-selecting
respondents voluntarily submitted the data. This creates sampling errors; those factors that render the sample less than perfect because of the
way the data was collected. The fact that the sample is over 700 cases, however, provides a strong possibility that widespread representation
of near-death experience (NDE) are included in this database. The multiple-source sample also shows a skewing by age and gender,
compared to the known population of the US. The tables in this section omit respondents from other countries, in order to compare the
American respondents to US Census data from the year 2000.

Your age at time of experience:
Your gender:

The age of reporters at the time of their experience is skewed toward younger age groups, with people over 50 under-represented in the
sample (Table 1). Likewise, women are over-represented in the sample (Table 2). This type of error makes it difficult to tell, for example,
if women actually have more NDEs, or, more likely, they simply report their experiences more often than men.

Table 1. Age at time of experience versus US population.

Table 2. Gender versus US population.

Most reports were received from people within the US (Table 3). Europe provided the next largest group of contributors. The survey
results presented here cannot be projected to represent the population of the US, or the world population, but rather simply summarize
the reports collected by IANDS up to 2001.

Table 3. Country of report.

Age now

Most of those who experienced an NDE reported it during middle age (Table 4). Since most of the experiences occurred prior to age 30,
and most reporting occurs after age 30, it appears there is a long lag between the event and the time of reporting for this sample.

Table 4. Age at time of reporting the event. Total sample.

B. Editing, Coding, and Data Clean-up

Data editing and recoding is often required on a raw database when respondent information is unclear or contradictory. For example, in the
question Your Condition During the Experience, someone may check “Other”, then go on to describe a drowning where they were
underwater for 15 minutes, with no vital signs. This must be recoded from “Other” into the “Clinical Death” category. All edits and recoding
were reviewed by three researchers in a procedure whereby two researchers agree on the recoding, and a third reviews the procedure and
acts as a tie-breaker.

Two important variables, Your Condition During the Experience, and Circumstances of Your Experience, required extensive
editing and recoding, while other variables required only minor editing. The Circumstances question required the creation of a few new
response categories. Respondent comments to questions, captured along with the numerical data, were used to guide the recoding decisions.

III. Findings and Cross-Tabulations

A. Causes and Circumstances


Q1. Your condition during the experience:

Clinical death occurred in one fourth of the sample population, 24.8%, while serious conditions occurred in 39.1% (Table 5). This is a
difficult question to answer due to the lack of clinical data, which often makes it impossible to tell which category applies. Such uncertainty
diminishes the value of the results. It is interesting that approximately one quarter of all respondents, 24.3%, report the experience was
triggered by a non-life threatening situation. Apparently, the definition of “near-death experience” must be examined and clearly defined
for respondents.

Table 5. Your condition during the experience.

Significant Cross-tab Findings:

• Male respondents report clinical death more often than female respondents, 28.7% versus 21.8% respectively.
• Those who indicate poor health at the time of their experience report clinical death more often. Likewise, non-life threatening NDEs are more
  often reported by those in good to excellent health 31.1% versus 12.8% for those in poor to fair health.

 Q2. Circumstances of the experience:

As with Q1, this topic poses difficulties, as often there are multiple, overlapping triggers to the NDE experience (Table 6). Accidents
and illnesses are the most common causes.

Table 6. Circumstances of experience.

Significant Cross-tab Findings:

• Accidents are reported more often by those under 10 years of age, and among males. Accidents account for 27.8% of all NDEs, but that is much
  higher for children under 10, at 45.1%.
• Illness is reported more often by females, 15.9% as opposed to 10.8% for males.
• Heart attacks are reported more often by men, and those 40 years of age or older. Men report a 9.8% incidence compared to 2.8% for women.
  Heart attacks constitute 5.9% of the total causes of NDEs, but among those who indicate clinical death, heart attacks account for 14.5% of cases.

Respondents were asked to rate their health at the time of their NDE experience, and now (at the time of reporting), both using a 4-point
scale (Tables 7 and 8). Those who report good or excellent health rose from 68.7% of respondents at the time of their NDE, to 81.4% at
the time of reporting. Health factors inherently play a role in precipitating the experience.

Table 7. Health status at the time of the experience.

Significant Cross-tab Findings:

• Respondents under 30 report excellent health more frequently. Those under the age of 10 at the time of their experience report being in excellent
  health 47.1% of the time, 51.6% for those 10 to 19, and 43.5% for those in their 20s.
• Those who report excellent health are more likely to report a wonderful NDE and also tend to be more liberal religiously. Excellent health is reported
  by 37.8% of all respondents but this jumps to 44.2% for those with a wonderful experience, and 44.7% among religious liberals. Indeed, those who
  report their NDE was generated by a non-life threatening event have a relatively high incidence of excellent health, at 49.1%, when compared to
  34.0% for those who report clinical death.

Q4. Your status of health now:

Current health status, which was given at the time of reporting the event, was higher than at the time of the NDE experience. There is often
a long lag between the time of the experience and the reporting of the event.

Table 8. Health status at the time of reporting.

Significant Cross-tab Findings:

• 37.3% of all respondents indicate their health is excellent at the time of reporting. This is higher for those who are religious liberals (43.8%), and with
  those who reported excellent health at the time of their NDE (42.2%).

B. Perceptions and Effects

Q5. At the time, did you consider the contents of your experience: Wonderful, Frightening, Mixed

Respondents were asked how they perceived their NDE events: as wonderful, frightening, or mixed. The majority viewed the NDE as
wonderful, and only 8.6% as frightening, Table 9.

Table 9. Wonderful experience.

Significant Cross-tab Findings:

• Those who report a wonderful experience are more often female at 57.8% versus 47.8% for males. A wonderful experience is described more often in
  the over 40 age groups; 62.0% for those in their 40s, and 64.1% for those 50 and over.
• Those who report a wonderful experience are highly correlated with the similar question of whether they view the after-effects of their experience as
  positive or disturbing.
   

Q6. Did your experience include (check all that apply):

Respondents were shown a series of check boxes and asked to indicate which elements were present in their NDE (Table 10). The vast
majority of respondents report a multitude of experiences associated with their NDE. Two thirds report an out-of-body experience, and
almost as many see a light. More than half report strong emotional tone and receiving knowledge. Almost half of the respondents report
seeing unearthly beings.

Table 10. The NDE experience included.*