Circulatory System Diseases Remain Leading Cause of Death in Luxembourg

On Tuesday 19 December 2023, Luxembourg's Ministry of Health and Social Security published an 89-page report on statistics of causes of death in 2022, in which diseases of the circulatory system are the leading cause of death in Luxembourg ahead of tumours. 

In 2022, the register of causes of death of the Directorate of Health recorded 4,283 deaths in the territory of the Grand Duchy, or 55 fewer deaths than the previous year. The ratio between women (2,129 deaths) and men (2,154 deaths) remains balanced. The average age of deceased men is 74 years old while that of women is 82 years old. The causes of death register also recorded 71 stillbirths in 2022 (compared to 64 in 2021) which are not included in the total deaths.

On average, 12 people died per day, 82 per week and 357 per month. December 2022 saw the highest number of deaths, with 402 people dying, while September saw the lowest number of deaths, with 318 people dying.

Also according to cause of death statistics, 93.9% of all deaths are due to diseases, with 6.1% attributed to external causes. More than half of the deaths took place in hospital (53.1%), more than a quarter in retirement homes (25.6%), 18.5% at home and 2.8% in other other places.

In Luxembourg, the main causes of death are diseases of the circulatory system and tumours

In 2022, diseases of the circulatory system will be the leading cause of death in Luxembourg, ahead of tumours. These two causes of death represent 51.5% of deaths in Luxembourg (49.4% in 2021).

Diseases of the circulatory system, the leading cause of death, led to 1,104 deaths, including 586 women and 518 men, representing 25.8% of all deaths (1,098 deaths in 2021, or 25.3%). Tumours, the second cause of death, accounted for 1,099 deaths, including 540 women and 559 men, or 25.7% of all deaths (1,046 deaths in 2021, or 24.1%). In men, lung cancer is the cancer that causes the greatest number of deaths with 109 deaths in 2022, followed by prostate cancer (47 deaths) and pancreatic cancer (46 deaths). Among women, breast cancer caused 105 deaths, followed by lung cancer (81 deaths) and pancreatic cancer (52 deaths).

Diseases of the respiratory system occupy the third position among the causes of death, followed by mental and behavioural disorders, external causes and COVID-19, which respectively account for 7.1%, 6.5%, 6.1% and 5.2% of all deaths. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 decreased by almost half in 2022, with 225 deaths in total including 132 men and 93 women (compared to 437 deaths including 233 men and 204 women in 2021), representing 10.1% of all deaths.