Press release 09/03/2012

MORTALITY STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (EDEF) 2010

The average age of women who died in 2010 was 81.8 years of age, whilst the average age for men was 74.6 years of age

Deaths resulting from traffic accidents have fallen by 73% over the course of the last ten years

The number of deaths in the Basque Country rose to 19,357 in 2010, 267 less than those registered in 2009, according to Eustat data. By sex, 10,045 deaths involved men and 9312, women. Broken down by month, December registered the highest number of deaths (1952), whilst September registered the lowest number (1378).

In 2010, 205 people over the age of 100 died, of which 82% were women. The number of deaths of amongst centenarians has gradually increased in recent years, reaching its height in 2009 when 254 deaths were registered within this group.

Women live an average of 7.2 years more than men

The average age of people who died in 2010 was 78.1 years of age, a figure that stood at 74.7 in 2000: the average age has risen by 3.4 years over the course of the last ten years.

By sex, the average age of death amongst men in 2010 was 74.6 years of age, whilst the average age amongst women stood at 81.8. In 2000, the average ages were 70.9 and 79.2 years of age, respectively. Thus, over the course of the last 10 years, the average lifespan of men has increased by 3.7 years, and that of women, by 2.6 years.

The rate of natural increase was positive, as there were 1802 more births than deaths. By territory, positive balances were registered in Álava and Gipuzkoa, where the population rose by 916 and 1085, respectively. By contrast, in Bizkaia, the number of deaths was greater than the number of births (-199).

The mortality rate amongst children can be expressed as 2.6 child deaths for every 1000 births. Mortality amongst newborns, occurring within the first 28 days of life, produced 37 deaths: 29 of these deaths were the result of early neo-natal mortality, occurring within the first week of life, 15 of which were produced within the first 24 hours of life. Within deaths amongst children below 1 year of age, girls accounted for 49% of the total.

60.4% of deaths were the result of tumours and diseases of the circulatory system

31.1% of the deaths that occurred in 2010 (6021 deaths) were the result of tumours, followed by deaths resulting from diseases of the circulatory system, which accounted for 29.3% of the total (5675 deaths) and, as a distant third, by deaths resulting from respiratory diseases, which accounted for 8.7% of the total (1691 deaths). The prevalence of these three groups of illnesses that were responsible for the highest number of deaths has varied over the course of the last 10 years. Whilst deaths resulting from tumours rose by 12%, those attributable to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases fell by 4% and 14%, respectively.



The cause of death continues to vary according to sex: amongst men, tumours caused more deaths than diseases of the circulatory system, whilst amongst women, the main cause of death was cardiovascular disease, followed by tumours.

Furthermore, the cause of death varies in accordance with age. Amongst those aged less than one year old, the most frequent causes of death were illnesses originating in the perinatal period and congenital malformations; amongst those aged up the 40, the majority of deaths were attributable to external causes; amongst those aged between 40 and 80, tumours were the highest cause of death, whilst amongst those aged 80 years or over, diseases of the circulatory system were the most frequent cause of death.

The number of deaths caused by AIDS has fallen by 50% over the course of the last ten years

Within the infectious diseases group, attention should be drawn to the fact that the number of deaths resulting from AIDS have gradually fallen. In 2000, 93 people died as a result of AIDS, whilst in 2010, this number had fallen to 45 (9 women and 36 men).

Deaths resulting from Alzheimer’s disease have doubled over the course of the last ten years

The groups of illnesses causing death that have shown the highest increase over the course of the last decade are mental disorders and diseases affecting the nervous system. Over the course of the last ten years, deaths resulting from dementia have increased by 85% (1101 deaths in 2010) and, within degenerative diseases, deaths attributable to Alzheimer’s disease have doubled (647 deaths in 2010 compared to 322 deaths a decade ago).

Within deaths caused by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, the majority of deaths entailed women: in 2010, female deaths attributable to these causes accounted for 69% and 72% of the totals, respectively.

As a result of the fall in traffic accidents, accidental falls and suicide are now the main external causes of death

The fall in the deaths attributable to traffic accidents over the course of the last 10 years has proved so extensive (73%) that in 2010, accidental falls and suicide are now the main external causes of death. In total, 136 deaths resulted from accidental falls, 131 from suicide and 82 from traffic accidents.

Within external causes of death, we find a higher incidence of male deaths in comparison to female deaths. Considering the main causes within this group, accidental falls and suicide, these were responsible for the deaths of 75 women and 192 men.



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