Romania outranked only by Bulgaria on deaths due to diseases of the circulatory system

In 2017, diseases of the circulatory system were the main cause of deaths in all EU Member States, except in Denmark, Ireland, France (2016 data) and the Netherlands where it was cancer, Eurostat says in a report released today.

Among the EU Member States, the highest share of deaths due to diseases of the circulatory system was observed in Bulgaria (66%) and Romania (58%) and the lowest in Denmark (23%), while the highest share of deaths due to cancer was observed in Slovenia (32%) and the lowest share in Bulgaria (16%).

Diseases of the circulatory system and cancers together represented more than half of the causes of deaths, ranging from 52% in France (2016 data) to 82% in Bulgaria. After these two diseases, the third main cause of death in most of the EU Member States were diseases of the respiratory system.

Death rate highest in Bulgaria, lowest in France
To make a sound comparison between countries, the absolute numbers of deaths across the countries need to be adjusted to the size and structure of the population.

With 1 631 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, Bulgaria had the highest death rate in the EU in 2017. It was followed by Romania (1 488), Latvia (1 485), Hungary (1 470) and Lithuania (1 418).

At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest death rate across the EU Member States was recorded in France (838 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants; 2016 data) and Spain (844), ahead of Italy (875), Luxembourg (911), Sweden (916) and Malta (927).