Deaths: Cardiovascular diseases and cancer dominate
Cardiovascular diseases were responsible for the largest proportion of deaths (27.5%), followed by cancer (23.1%), according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Dementia was the third most common cause of death, accounting for 8.8% of deaths.
According to the FSO, 36,442 men and 37,983 women from the Swiss resident population died in 2022. This corresponds to a standardized mortality rate of 504 per 100,000 men and 352 per 100,000 women, with the average age of the deceased being 77 years for men and 83 years for women. Compared to 2021, the mortality rate increased by 0.5% (+1337 deaths) for men and by 2.8% (+1896 deaths) for women. The results of the cause of death statistics do not indicate that this increase can be attributed to a single cause, as stated in the BfS media release.
Cardiovascular diseases dominate
As in previous years, cardiovascular diseases were the most common cause of death in Switzerland in 2022: according to the figures, the number of deaths among men was 9512 (26.1%) and 10,951 (28.8%) among women. This equates to an age-standardized mortality rate of 123 per 100,000 men and 84 per 100,000 women. Compared to 2021, the mortality rate has increased by 0.5% (+398 deaths) for men and by 1% (+420 deaths) for women. The average age of people who died from cardiovascular disease was 81.4 years for men and 87.4 years for women, according to the statistics.
Men and women with unequal cancer risk
In 2022, 17,220 people died of cancer, which corresponds to 23.1 % of all deaths. These were 9310 men and 7910 women, both with an average age of 75. This equates to an age-standardized mortality rate of 133 per 100,000 men and 95 per 100,000 women. Compared to 2021, the age-standardized rate for men would decrease by 2.3 %. For women, the increase in the age-standardized rate was 2.1% (+295 deaths). According to the data, lung cancer caused the most cancer-related deaths: For women, it was responsible for 18.1% of all cancer-related deaths; for men, it was responsible for 20.3%. Prostate cancer was in second place for men (14.5%) and breast cancer for women (17.2%).
Dementia again the third most common cause of death
Dementia is once again the third most common cause of death in the overall population, as it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, 6546 (8.8%) dementia-related deaths were recorded. These affected 2047 men with an average age of 86 years and an age-standardized mortality rate of 24 per 100,000 and 4499 women with an average age of 89 years and an age-standardized mortality rate of 32 per 100,000.
Respiratory diseases on the rise
In 2022, respiratory diseases were the third most common cause of death in men (6.5%, 2351 deaths) with a standardized death rate of 31 per 100,000. In women, it was the fourth leading cause (5.7%, 2166 deaths) with an age-standardized death rate of 20 per 100,000. In 2021, respiratory diseases ranked fifth in both men (5.5%, 1937 deaths) and women (4.6%, 1674 deaths), according to the report. As a large number of Covid-19 tests were carried out in 2021, it is possible that more Covid-19 infections were diagnosed in people with respiratory diseases during this period than in 2022.
