I just figured we never had a bodycount. So I do one season by season and the cause of death. I know there are a few cases in which it's uncertain. Murdoc doesn't count, not sure about animals or artificial intelligence though. And I don't know about people being dead already either but here's a go.

Season 1.

Pilot. - Unknown number by explosions.
The Golden Triangle. - General Narai, tripped over helicopter and stabbed himself.
Thief of Budapest. - Nicolai Grodsky, run over by a truck.
The Heist. - Simms, shot by Caitlin.
Trumbo's World. - Charles Alden and Luiz, eaten by ants.
Last Stand. - Truck driver shot by Buddy.
The Prodigal. - Caterina Bennett dies of illness.
Flame's End. - Tim Wexler dies of gunshot wound. Train unknown if he died after being exposed by nuclear energy.
Countdown. - Charlie Robinson dies after a failed bomb defusal.
The Enemy Within. - Reverend Mather suffered a heart attack after being programmed to kill someone.
To Be A Man. - Khalil shot himself after being hit with butane tank.
Slow Death. - Paul Webster electrocuted himself when trying to start the train. Presumably dead.
The Assassin. - Piedra fell on his own poisoned needle after being tripped by MacGyver.
A total of 14 deaths in season 1. That's quite a lot.

Season 2.

The Wish Child. - Lee Wenying suffers heart attack. Presumed dead.
Final Approach. - The airplane pilot suffers a heart attack while flying.
Three For The Road. - Tony is killed by the mob.
Phoenix Under Siege. - Susan Murphy shot by Victoria James. Lou choked by Victoria James. Fred chocked by Victoria James. Philipps shot by Victoria James. (Whew! One busy woman.) Victoria James fell through window, 8 floors down.
Out in the Cold. - Phil who carries around a microfilm is shot in the mountains by Arnie, who gets killed by an avalanche.
D.O.A. MacGyver. - Jules gets killed by Lancer in an attempt to get rid of MacGyver.
A total of 11 deaths in season 2. I think when it comes down to numbering Phoenix Under Siege has the most deaths in one episode when it comes to peoples.

Season 3.

Lost Love. - Lisa Kohler shot in the back by Major Kosoff. Presumed dead, despite Mac didn't seem depressed in the final scene assuming it takes place the same day. Tanya Lyaschenka dies in an explosion after being locked up by MacGyver in a toolshed who gave her an explosive necklace.
Fire and Ice. - Danny Barrett run over by a car.
GX-1. - GX-1 pilot found dead in the tree after escaping plane crash.
The Widowmaker. - Mike Forrester died in a climbing accident.
Blow Out. - Eric killed by Major after finding out he was being followed.
Kill Zone. - Ace and Sandra Millhouse dies after being exposed to an organism that speeds up the aging process. It also infects plant life and 900 other animals.
Early Retirement. - Three peoples dies after an explosion occurs at the Phoenix Foundation when defusing nuclear weapons.
The Negotiator. - Bunky. The dog Nikki was taking care of is stabbed to death.
The Spoilers. - Buddy. Earthquake's dog dies after drinking toxic waste dump. (Whew! That's the third dog this season)
Rock The Cradle. - Carlo shot in the back while trying to escape his followers.
The Endangered. - Bear is shot while hunting.
Murderer's Sky. - Adam Chen dies after having survived an attempt on his life in the hospital due to poison.
Tough call. Counting everything together we have a total of 916 deaths in season 3. That includes of course the 900 animals found dead in Kill Zone and the bear in The Endangered. If we count the bear and the 900 animals out, we come out on 15 deaths this season.

Season 4.

The Secret of Parker House. - Sheriff Howels dies after his car is punctured by a wooden structure. Betty Parker died thirties years earlier after being pushed through the window by Howels.
Blood Brothers. - Jesse dies after the gun goes off when MacGyver and his friends are playing with it.
On A Wing And A Prayer. - Enrique is shot in the back during a revolution in South America.
Collision Course. - O' Malley drowns in a fountain after being punched by Hans Visser.
Deadly Dreams. - Sweeney is killed with an axe by Eric Cross after being lured into a trap.
Fraternity of Thieves. - Henchman dies after being exposed to an almonds poison who used it on Pete as well.
The Challenge. - Booker gets killed by white supremacists who are trying to frame a local gang for it.
Gold Rush. - Sergei Barinov gets killed by Turk West in a fight over gold.
The Invisible Killer. - Two innocent peoples gets killed by escaped convicts who pretends to be part of a Phoenix expedition into the wilderness. It's possible the two convicts took on their names as aliasses. Henry Colter and Chuck Larabee.
Easy Target. - Armin gets electrocuted while trying to charge up the EMP. Lisa gets shot in attempt to retaliate.
Unfinished Business. - Deborah dies after falling from a cliff.
That's a total of 14 deaths.

Season 5.

Legend of the Holy Rose. - Ahriman is shot after failing to bring back Diana's mirror. Professor Wycliff is thrown out of a helicopter. Shima betrays Erich Von Leer and gets shot in the process eventually dying from his wounds. Mammon is knocked out cold but suffers the same fate as Erich Von Leer who gets lasered by the optical pump causing the cave to collapse. These are five deaths in two episodes. When it comes down to the story it has the most deaths. If we count this episode as one big episode it defeats Phoenix under Siege by one death.
Black Corsage. - Reynold gets shot when he shows his piece of a map that contains the whereabouts of a priceless necklace.
Second Chance. - Briefly before the episode starts Willie's mother has passed away due to illness.
Halloween Knights. - Nicholas Helman dies when he falls into a snakepit and Murdoc throwing a grenade in it.
Black Rhino. - A mutalited rhino is shot to end the suffering. Ladysmith dies after losing his grip of Mac's ankles after the fight on the dam ends up high above the river. Ladysmith falls to his death on top of rhino horns.
Two Times Troubles. - Rogan is killed by Carla after being thrown of the penthouse's terrace on top of a building.
Log Jam. - Glass dies when MacGyver and him are fighting on a conveyor belt. Mac however waits till all the way to the top before jumping off, leading Glass to the fall of his death. Mac killed a guy!
The Treasure of Manco. - Maria's father appears to be killed by rebels in the mountains. Also the guide who was with Maria's father has gotten killed.
Jenny's Chance. - Kyle Larson gets killed by his blackmailers by upsetting a horse and stomping him on the head.
Rush To Judgment. - Lisa Robison is killed in a carjacking leaving her husband wounded.
Passages. - Harry suffers a heart attack and passes away. MacGyver suffers a near death experience after falling of a building to the top of car.
That's a total of 18 deaths. Counting the rhino and Mac. He flatlined, he was a goner. I know there is also the woman who got attacked in the park in The Ten Percent Solution but it's unknown if she is dead or alive. Not counting that one.

Season 6.

Tough Boys. - Tough Boys member dies in an explosion at the start. Coco dies from a gunshot wound.
Humanity. - Victor and the major dies by an exploding grenade. Two bricks with one stone.
The Gun. - A cop is killed with the Harrison gun. Also Rudy dies from a gunshot. Mr. Maddox and Mr. Zamora are probably dead too after they got buried under the containers cargo.
Twenty Questions. - The Wilson's maid died after a fall from the stairs.
Lesson in Evil. - Zito kills his two orderlies. One of them is stabbed with a pen, the other one is hung up with his chains in the elevator. Blammo! Two bricks with one stone again. 11 deaths in only six episodes.
Bitter Harvest. - Tony Garcia gets killed by the henchmen of a land owner.
Jerico Games. - Ralph Jerico gets shot in front of live tv by a man posing as MacGyver.
The Wasteland. - Laura Bartlett is shot by her own brother when trying to take over their father's company.
Eye of Osiris. - Hakim's henchman is killed by Nikolaus Von Leer, Hakim later gets shot by Nikolaus and Nikolaus gets himself killed while trying to steal the Eye of Osiris.
High Control. - A drugsdealer is killed by Kluge.
There But For The Grace. - Father Jim is mugged and later dies of his injuries. Mooney later is killed by a henchman with a knife.
Blind Faith. - A courier is killed by a deathsquad. Later Richardson, the man Mac was supposed to meet is killed as well.
Trail of Tears. - Phil Crowe is killed by the men who are after MacGyver and Whitecloud.
That's a total of 23 peoples! The highest rate ever for a season. Not counting dead animals.

Season 7.
The 'Hood. - Molly Densmore is killed after Kelly Dobbs took over her name.
The Prometheus Syndrome. - In events prior to the episode Victoria Arnold dies in a café fire. Earl dies after being blown against the wall when a bomb exploded.
Good Knight MacGyver. - Duncan falls into a lavapit.
Gunz 'N Boyz. - Jojo gets killed by the Gunman.
The Stringer. - Mac's contact gets killed after trying to exchange a video that contains footage of labor camps in China.
Due to a shorter season this makes a total of 5 deaths for the final season.

The movies.
Lost Treasure of Atlantis. - Zavros dies after trying to go through the gates of Hades and Cleeve is thrown in the water by Mac, not to come up again.
Trail to Doomsday. - Mac's friend Paul Moran is killed on his birthday party as well as a young woman thought to be his daughter. Later Tony Graves is found dead in his appartment by the police thinking Mac committed the crime. Frederick Moran, Paul's brother is later killed by Natalia.
For the movies it's a total 6 deaths.

In total counted everything together, this includes animals, deaths prior to an episode, coming back from the dead and the onscreen killings a total off... 1023 deaths????

It's that organism thing. If we discount 900 animals, a bear, a rhino, unseen deaths and coming back from one, it's less spectacular but it's still more than or near one hundred. That's quite a lot for a non-violent tv-show. If I forgot one, please tell me.

Thats pretty incredible, MacGyverGod!

Did you compile this on your own?

Yeah. I'm quite surprised on how many people died in MacGyver.

So it wasn't a non violent tv show after all. People drop like flies probably to create a contrast between MacGyver and the "rest of the world" (violent,dangerous,deadly...).We tend to forget it because the hero and his values are omnipresent.

Don't forget Bonnie from Flame's End. Most intense death of the first season!

Also the Captain of the Victoria in Countdown's first act.

It would be interesting to compare the body counts of other 80's shows such as The A-Team.

To put things in perspective though, 'Murder She Wrote' (about a little old harmless lady that solved murders) had a death in every single episode.

Nice list. Here are a few others to add:

Ugly Duckling: The Professor gunned down in the beginning
The Road Not Taken: villager is shot while others escape
Soft Touch: guy getting his eardrums blown out and another guy shot and stuck in the freezer
Bushmaster: The army Colonel shoots his deputy
DOA MacGyver: MacGyver's contact in the warehouse
Rock the Cradle: paper supplier gets shot behind the van
Cleo Rocks: Wintergreen from the theater
Easy Target: two guys get gunned down in gas station diner
Serenity: Billy Colton killed by Murdoc
Rush to Judgment: The bird lady

I always suspected that Jessica Fletcher was the angel of death. She caused all the murders.

Thanks, I'll add them as soon as possible. With this list and even if we discount the animals in Kill Zone and off screen deaths we are definitely over 100 deaths. That's quite an amount and maybe especially for a tv-show from the 80's. Maybe we should compare these numbers with a more violent tv-show like 24 or Lost. Looks like MacGyver can have his own cemetary, full of killers, innocent peoples, ex-girlfriends and Phoenix employees. That's a rather scary thought, though.

I actually came up with this list after I saw a topic on the Magnum PI forums in which they counted the people he shot. But that was just that, Magnum shooting and killing someone, rather than a full bodycount.

It's a fun brainstorm. A few others I thought of in the interim:

The Spoilers - guy gets thrown over the ledge to frame Toberman
Jack in the Box - Pepe gets shot while distracting sheriff from shooting MacGyver and Jack
The Invisible Killer - you mentioned the guys from the beginning, but once they're all in the woods, at least one of them drinks coffee with bad berries. I forget if the 2nd one dies too - haven't seen it in a while.

They just keep coming. Since Murdoc lives under the cemetary, he could be a great undertaker.

Just came up with another two myself.

Su Ling from Children of Light, died during the Tienamen Square Massacre.
Morgana actually dies in the dream too in Good Knight MacGyver.

Those are like 15 extra. That makes it 1038.

You actually might wonder if it ever occured to the producers and other crew and cast member they have such a high bodycount even without 900 dead animals.

Yeah lots of people die on MacGyver but believe it or not more people die on little house on the prairie!

After a recount, I kinda end up with 1043. I'm adding Ian Mac'Iver.

But I just saw The Assassin episode and it seems I have missed a whole lot more. This episode has the highest death rate in the whole series. Piedra kills Laila, Connors, four others and probably a nun too. Her faith is unknown but since we were dealing with an assassin, she's most likely death. That means 7 peoples died in that episode setting the final number on 1050 minus 900 dead animals, three dogs, four dream deaths, a bear and a rhino. That would make... 141 peoples. That's a death for every episode and the movies.

Since Ian Mac'Iver was his ancestor and is in fact dead and considering Morgana and Duncan lived for real once and was not just part of his dream, we probably need to add them to mix again. So it would be 144 peoples in the end. Only Billy Colton 'died' in Serenity but that was just a dream. Billy didn't really die in the show.

I'll update this list as soon as possible.

And two more: Dr. Shen and Stone also gets killed in The Wish Child.

1044. The pilot in Final Approach buys the farm too. He dies of a heart attack. Interesting how a heart patient is still flying a plane.

Family Matter: Frank Bonners family died during a tribal war. Two more. That makes 1046.

Pirates: Arne Lindquist. Stabbed to death.
Bushmaster: Colonel Salazar shot one of his own men.
D.O.A. MacGyver: the funeral of Joe Thompkins.
For Love Or Money: David aka Pyotro a KGB agent got killed by Diana.

Also in Pirates, Barbara says her father died.

Did he die in the episode?

Also did he die or was he killed? Natural death shouldn't be part of a body count.

Also any death not related to the episode i.e. Someone knows a person who died from something unrelated to the episode shouldn't count either.

He got caught in the wreck of the ship as she explained, but he didn't die in the episode itself.

ah ok. That would probably count then.

In Kill Zone it was said 900 dead sheep. But also a rabbit, a wild boar, two deers, a wolf, a bird, a rat.

Tai Minh, Toberman's girlfriend got killed in a crossfire in Saigon as told in The Spoilers.
Perry's father died in the Kaqwani Reservation following the traplines.

Rock The Cradle: Milland gets shot by Durst and Cutler.
Murderers' Sky: Chung's son dies.

Karin's cousin Alexander got killed by Bigfoot.

The Survivors: Breck Taylor and his co-pilot dies when their DEA plane crashes.
Deadly Dreams: Eric Cross kills a male nurse.

Fraternity of Thieves: David Edwards gets shot by Papillion.
The Battle of Tommy Giordano: At least three members of the Catano crime family gets killed. It is unknown how many people were in the bunkhouse on the ranch. At least two or three. So the deaths could go up to five or six.
Gold Rush: the two pilots freeze over and Turk West dies from a snowball on his head.
The Invisible Killer: Dr. Fred Beam and Parisio gets killed by Colter.

Simms the fourth member of the Black Corsage got iced in prison.

Sam, a Ranger from Nabo Ranch has gotten killed by a poacher in Black Rhino.
The Bolinski family got killed during World War II leaving Sam in The Ten Percent Solution and Sgt. Gray killed one of his own men who tried to killed Sam.