Analytics, Demography, EU – Baltic States, Statistics
International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics
Thursday, 03.07.2025, 04:48
Latvia and Lithuania in the top five EU countries with the highest death rates

Heart attacks, strokes, cancer: main causes of deaths in the EU
Slightly over 1.8 mln people died from diseases of the
circulatory system (mainly heart attacks and strokes), while 1.3 mln died from
cancer in 2016. These were the two main causes of deaths in the EU, responsible
for 36% and 26% of all deaths respectively. Diseases of the circulatory system
were the main cause of deaths in all EU Member States, except in Denmark,
France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom where cancer was the main
killer.
The third main cause of death in the EU was diseases of the
respiratory system, which killed 422 000 persons in 2016 (8% of all deaths in
the EU).
A significant share of deaths in the EU were also due to
accidents and other external causes of deaths (237 000 deaths, 5% of all deaths
in the EU), diseases of the digestive system (222 000 deaths, 4%), mental and
behavioural diseases such as dementia (220 000 deaths, 4%) and diseases of the
nervous system including Alzheimer’s (219 000 deaths, 4%).
Death rate highest in Bulgaria, lowest in Spain
To make a sound comparison between countries, the absolute
numbers of deaths across Member States need to be adjusted to the size and
structure of the population.
With 1 602 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, Bulgaria had
the highest death rate in the EU in 2016. It was followed by Latvia and Romania
(both 1 476), Lithuania (1 455) and Hungary (1 425).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest death rate
across the EU Member States was recorded in Spain (829 deaths per 100 000
inhabitants), ahead of France (838), Italy (843), Malta (882), Luxembourg (905)
and Sweden (913).
The death rate stood on average at 1 002 deaths per 100
000 inhabitants in the EU in 2016.