Press Release 25/02/2019

DEATH STATISTICS. III/2018

Deaths rose by 7.4% in the third quarter of 2018

Of the people who died, 51 were centenarians, 39 women and 12 men

In the third quarter of 2018 the figure for deaths in the Basque Country stood at 5,041, which was a rise of 7.4% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. As far as the sex of the people who died was concerned, 2,565 (50.9%) were men and 2,476 (49.1%) were women.

Deaths increased in the three provinces: in Álava 651 people died, an increase of 4.8%; 2,777 in Bizkaia (8.1%), and 1,613 in Gipuzkoa (7.2%).

If we consider the age at the time of death, 19.4% of the people who died were under 70 years of age, 16.6% were between 70 and 79, 38.3% were between 80 and 89, and the remaining 25.7%, had turned 90.

The average age of people who died was 80.15 years of age, 77.27 for men and 83.14 for women.

Amongst the deaths that occurred in the third quarter of 2018, 7 corresponded to children under the age of one, 3 boys and 4 girls.

A third of deaths were due to tumours

The main causes of death were tumours and circulatory system diseases, which caused the deaths of 1,618 and 1,255 individuals, respectively, which mean that together they caused 57.0% of deaths. The third cause of death was respiratory diseases, which resulted in 431 deaths (8.5%). These statistics are similar to the ones obtained in the same quarter of the previous year.

As in previous quarters, the cause of deaths differed according to sex: amongst men, tumours (38.6%) caused more deaths than diseases of the circulatory system (23.2%), whilst amongst women the main cause of death was cardiovascular disease (26.6%), followed by tumours (25.4%). Furthermore, the third most common cause of death for both men and women was respiratory diseases, 8.9% and 8.2% respectively.

Population growth in the Basque Country was negative in the third quarter of 2018, with deaths exceeding births by 780 individuals. By province, only Álava had a positive balance, with its population increasing by 58 people. Regarding Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, their population fell by 665 and 173 inhabitants, respectively.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62