Specific causes of death

The majority of deaths are due to a few causes of death: cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, accidents and other acts of violence, as well as dementia. Sex and age influence the ranking of these causes.

Main causes of death

2016	Deaths		Mortality rates1
	Men	Women	Men	Women
All causes of death	31 283	33 681	508.0	351.5
Infectious diseases	359	393	5.9	4.1
Total malignant tumours	9 371	7 830	155.6	105.8
Colon2	603	533	9.8	6.5
Lung	1 948	1 298	33.3	19.6
Breast	6	1 405	0.1	19.7
Diabetes mellitus	573	701	9.0	6.5
Dementia	1 789	3 975	25.6	31.5
Cardiovascular diseases	9 357	11 355	144.3	98.1
Total heart disease	7 432	8 690	114.9	74.0
Ischemic heart disease	3 854	3 136	60.1	27.3
Cerebral vascular disease	1 381	2 097	20.9	18.8
Total respiratory diseases	2 183	1 925	33.4	18.9
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis	312	129	5.8	2.3
Accidents and violent deaths	2 173	1 542	40.6	18.6
Accidents	1 329	1 223	23.3	12.2
Suicide	759	257	15.5	5.2

1 age-standardised mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants
2 ICD-10: C18 Source: CoD

Causes of death by age and sex

The ranking of these causes varies according to age. Congenital diseases are the predominant cause of death in the first two years of life. Death between the ages of 2 and 15 is very uncommon but has many causes. The majority of deaths between the ages of 16 and roughly 34 are caused by accidents and suicide. From about the age of 40, cancer is the most common cause of death but is replaced from around age 80 by cardiovascular diseases.

Potential years of life lost

The potential years of life lost are an indication of premature mortality (before the age of 70). Cancer is the leading cause of premature mortality accounting for 30% of years of potential life lost in men and for 47% in women. Accidents and violent deaths are the second most common cause of premature mortality.

Suicide

Suicide challenges society’s fundamental values and each case is extremely distressing for those close to the victim. It is a relatively common cause of death among young people, for whom death due to disease is very rare. The risk of taking one’s life, however, increases with age. Suicide is the cause of death in 16 out of 1000 deaths.
Assisted suicide is a different phenomenon mostly involving seriously ill people who no longer consider their life worth living and who choose when to die. Assisted suicide is the cause of death in 14 out of 1000 deaths.

Cause of death by nationality

A quarter of Switzerland’s resident population are foreign nationals (26% of men and 23% of women). However, this section of the population is considerably younger and therefore has a significantly lower risk of dying. Only around 10% of deaths concern foreign nationals (12% of deceased men and 7% of deceased women). In the case of tuberculosis, stomach cancer, lung cancer (only men) and perinatal causes of death, foreign nationals have higher mortality rates than Swiss nationals, in the case of cardiovascular diseases, dementia, lung cancer (only women) and for accidents and violent deaths their mortality rates are considerably lower.

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