Luxembourg's National Health Directorate has confirmed that cardiovascular diseases and cancer remains the main causes of death in the Grand Duchy.
In 2017, the National Health Directorate's register of causes of death recorded 4,137 deaths in Luxembourg- 4% more than the previous year. The ratio between women (2,075 deaths) and men (2,062 deaths) remained balanced, with men dying on average at the age of 73 and women at the age of 80.
On average, eleven people died per day, 80 per week and 345 per month. The highest number of deaths was recorded in January 2017, with 447 deaths, in contrast to the month of August, with 283 deaths.
94.7% of all deaths were due to illness, while 5.3% were attributable to external causes. In addition, 55% of deaths took place in hospital, a quarter in retirement homes and 17% at home.
As in previous years, cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of death with 30.8%, or 1,276 deaths (613 men and 663 women). This figure has changed little compared to 2016 (1,264 deaths). However, the share of deaths from cardiovascular disease continued to decrease, from 31.8% of total deaths in 2016 to 30.8% in 2017.
Cancer remained the second leading cause of death, accounting for 28.0% of all deaths (1,160 people). Compared to 2016, the number of cancer-related deaths increased slightly from 1,121 to 1,160 people. According to sex, there has been a decrease among men (28 fewer deaths) and an increase among women (67 more deaths) compared to 2016. Among men, the decrease was mainly attributed to the drop in the number of deaths from lung cancer. Among women, it was especially the number of the three most frequent cancers which increased, namely: breast cancer (thirteen more deaths), lung cancer (25 more deaths) and colorectal cancer (ten more deaths).
The other main causes each represented less than 10% of deaths: 7.6% resulted from diseases of the respiratory system, 5.5% from mental and behavioural disorders and 5.3% from external causes (accidents, suicides and others).
In addition, 2017 saw an increase in the number and relative share of causes of death related to infectious and parasitic diseases, for endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases and for diseases of the genitourinary system compared to the previous year. The opposite trend was observed for external causes and infant mortality, although the number of stillborn babies (48) remained stable.
