Why is one death a tragedy but millions a statistic?

Question

Why is one death a tragedy but millions a statistic?

Answer 1

When someone you know personally dies, you usually are very emotionally connected to that death.  Many people cry and become depressed (grieving).  

When 6 million people are butchered by Hitler during the Holocaust, or 20 million butchered by Lenin/Stalin in Russia, did you cry?  Do you cry for them?  Nope.  It's just a 'statistic'.

Answer 2

its overload - the mind can't cope with the dimension of the tragedy when for example we learnt that x thousand people were killed in a civil war. So the mind depersonalises the information, although some do feel for the dead and their families, and even pray for them. A single death, especially if connected to your own family, has a different and more intense impact for obvious reasons.