Luxembourg's Ministry of Health reported today that cancer and cardiovascular disease remained the leading causes of death in the Grand Duchy in 2019.
In 2019, the Health Directorate's cause of death register recorded 4,120 deaths in Luxembourg, i.e. twelve fewer deaths than the previous year. The ratio between women (2,043 deaths) and men (2,065 deaths) remained balanced. Men died on average at the age of 73 and women at the age of 81. 40.1% of those who died were under the age of 85.
On average, eleven people died per day, 78 per week and 343 per month in 2019. The highest number of deaths was recorded in December with 382 deaths, compared to 303 deaths in June 2019. 26.9% of deaths occurred during the first quarter of the year in question.
93.5% of all deaths were due to illness, while 6.5% were due to external causes. More than half (55.4%) of deaths took place in hospital, a quarter in retirement homes and 17.4% at home.
Causes of death in Luxembourg and EU
Cardiovascular disease and cancer remain the leading causes of death in Luxembourg as well as in the European Union (EU27) as a whole.
In 2019, for the first time since monitoring of cause of death began in Luxembourg, the number of deaths from tumours (1,139 deaths) was higher than that from circulatory system diseases. Ten years previously, in 2009, the difference between these two causes of death was 263 (1,323 deaths from circulatory system diseases compared to 1,060 deaths from tumours). These two causes of death represent more than half of deaths in Luxembourg, i.e. 55.2%. This proportion has also witnessed a downward trend: it was 66% in 2009.
Cancer has thus become the leading cause of death, accounting for 27.6% of all deaths in 2019. Compared to 2018, the number of cancer deaths remained stable, going from 1,130 to 1,139 people. Lung cancer caused the highest number of cancer-related deaths among men (131 compared to 88 female deaths) in 2019. In women, breast cancer remained the leading cause of cancer-related deaths (96 deaths), followed by lung cancer (88) and colorectal cancer (53). In the EU27, the standardised death rate for cancer-related deaths in 2018 was also high, with 267 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (250 per 100,000 in Luxembourg).
Diseases of the circulatory system were the second leading cause of death, accounting for 1,137 deaths or 27.6% (29.0% in 2018), including 557 men and 580 women. In the EU27, the standardised death rate for this cause of death in 2018 was also the highest, with 370 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (286 per 100,000 in Luxembourg).
The other main causes of death each represented less than 10% of all deaths: respiratory diseases accounted for 9.4% of deaths, followed by external causes (accidents, suicides and others) with 6.5% and mental and behavioural disorders with 6.2%.
In addition, 2019 confirmed the downward trend observed in previous years in the number and the relative proportion of deaths related to infectious and parasitic diseases (67 compared to 68 in 2018 and 106 in 2017). After an increase observed in 2018, deaths from mental and behavioural disorders declined in 2019 (256 compared to 286 in 2018), as did those related to genitourinary diseases (83 compared to 94 in 2018).
On the other hand, there was an increase in the number of deaths from endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (132 in 2019 compared to 102 in 2018), nervous system diseases (206 compared to 180) and symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory examination results (176 compared to 113).
Deaths from respiratory diseases (387 in 2019 compared to 388 in 2018) and those from external causes (266 compared to 270) remained stable. The number of stillborn babies rose from 42 in 2018 to 69 in 2019.
Impact of COVID-19 on mortality in 2020
According to statistics published by Eurostat on 3 March 2021, there were 580,000 more deaths in the EU between March and December 2020 compared to the same period in 2016-2019. These data include all legal deaths (of residents) documented in Luxembourg by STATEC. The data do not provide information on the cause(s) of death but are considered useful in assessing the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the European population.
According to its publication from February 2021, STATEC counted a total of 4,649 deaths among Luxembourg residents in 2020. Such a figure had not been observed since 1976 (4,507). There was a 8.5% increase in the number of deaths in 2020 compared to 2019 (4,283 deaths) and a 7.7% increase compared to 2018 (4,318).
