Government

Quick access to information based on government's structure

Ministry of Health
Table, Leading Causes of Death by Age

[Click here to download a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet of the above table]

HIGHLIGHTS TO TABLE 23
  • There were 156 infant deaths (under one year of age) in 1999, a 10.3% decrease from 174 deaths in 1998 (Table 4). Congenital anomalies were still the leading cause of infant deaths (32). At the time this report was prepared, 10 deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) were recorded for 1999.

  • There were 94 deaths of children in the 1-14 age group in 1999. Accidents remained the leading cause of death in this age group, with 32 deaths in 1999, more than three quarters of which were young boys (78.1%). In second place, cancers claimed 16 young lives.

  • Accidents were responsible for 46.4% (149 deaths) of the 321 deaths in the 15-24 age group. Violence claimed one in six deaths (17.1%) in this age group; there were 43 suicides (the second leading cause of death) and 12 homicides (in fourth place). Almost four fifths (78.2%) of the deaths from violence in the 15-24 age group were young men.

  • In the 25-44 age group, there were 1,369 deaths in 1999. For men in this age group, the leading cause of death was accidents (279 deaths), followed by suicide (142) and cancers (127). For women in this age group, cancer was the leading cause of death (145 deaths, including 52 from breast cancer - see Appendix 2), followed by accidents (90).

  • The leading causes of death in the 45-64 age group were cancers (1,736 deaths), cardiovascular diseases (687), and accidents (260). More than a third of the male deaths (36.2%) were from cancer (904 deaths); the major cancer for men's deaths was lung cancer (291 deaths) (see Appendix 2). Of female deaths (1,508) in this age group, 55.2% were from cancers (832), particularly lung cancer (238) and breast cancer (189) (see Appendix 2).

  • Cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory diseases were the leading causes of death for both men and women in the 65-84 age group in 1999.

    The leading causes of death in the 85 and over age group, both genders combined, were cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and cancers. Deaths from cardiovascular diseases (2,565) accounted for a third (32.9%) of the 7,803 deaths in this age group.