Press release dated 20/04/2011

MORTALITY STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (EDEF) 2009

The number of people who died aged 100 or over came to 254 in 2009

Deaths from traffic accidents fell by nearly 63% over the previous ten years

The number of deaths in the Basque County in 2009 came to 19,624, 187 more than in 2008, according to Eustat data. By gender, 10,232 men died and 9,392 women. By months, January was the month with the highest number of deaths (2,131) and September with the lowest (1,452).

In 2009, 254 people were 100 years old or over when they died, 80% of whom were women. The number of deaths of people aged 100 or over has tripled since 1996, when there were only 77.

Women live 7.4 years longer than men

The average age at which people died in 2009 was 77.7, whereas it had been 75 in 1999, which is to say that there was an increase of 2.7 years over the last decade. By gender, men passed away at the age of 74.1 on average and women at 81.5.

The population growth rate was positive, as there were 1304 more births than death. By provinces, there were positive balances in Álava and Gipuzkoa, with population increases of 730 and 889 people, respectively. On the other hand, the number of deaths exceeded the births in Bizkaia (-325).

As regards infant mortality, 3.1 babies under 1 year old died per thousand deaths. Neonatal mortality, occurring in the first 28 days, accounted for 46 deaths; 30 were as a result of early neonatal mortality, dying in the first week, of which 11 died in the first 24 hours. Among the under-ones, the deaths of girls accounted for 39% of the total.

60% of deaths were due to tumours and circulatory diseases

30.3% of the deaths in 2009 (5,950 deaths) were due to tumours. This was followed by circulatory diseases with 29.6% (5,799 deaths) and, in third place, some way behind, respiratory diseases, which accounted for 9.4% of deaths (1841). The prevalence of the two largest groups of diseases has changed over the last decade. While deaths from tumours increased by nearly 15%, those caused by cardiovascular disease and respiratory diseases fell by 4% and 6%, respectively.

The cause of death continued to differ according to gender, as tumours outnumbered circulatory system diseases among men, whereas the main cause among women was cardiovascular diseases, followed by tumours.

The cause of death also varied with age. In babies under one year old, deaths were most frequently due to diseases originating in the perinatal period and congenital malformations; the main causes of death up until 40 years of age were external; the main cause between 40 to 80 years old was tumours and circulatory system diseases among the over 80s.



Deaths caused by Alzheimer’s disease doubled over the last ten years

Mental disorders and diseases of the nervous system were the groups of diseases as cause of death that most increased over the last decades. If we take the last ten years, deaths due to dementias increased by 63% (1,043 deaths in 2009) and as far as degenerative diseases were concerned, deaths caused by Alzheimer doubled (636 in 2009 compared to 304 deaths ten years earlier).

In the case of deaths caused by dementias or by Alzheimer’s diseases, the majority of people who died were women. In fact, female deaths from these causes stood at 67% and 71%, respectively in 2009.

Due to the drop in number of traffic accidents, suicide is now the first external cause of death

The drop in the number of deaths from traffic accidents over the last decade was so great (nearly 63%) that suicide has been the first external cause of death since 2006. The greatest difference was in 2009 with 166 suicides compared to 104 deaths from traffic accidents, as the latter had fallen by 10% on the previous year.

Both suicides and traffic accidents accounted for the deaths of more men than women: 85 men and 19 women from traffic accidents and 126 men and 40 women by suicide.

For further information:

Basque Statistics Office C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Tel:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es Contact: Martín González Hernández Tel+34-945-01 75 49 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 Further press releases on MORTALITY STATISTICS of the Basque Country Databank on the Mortality Statistics of the Basque Country