Specific causes of death

The majority of deaths are due to a few causes: Cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases, accidents and other violent deaths, as well as dementia. Since 2020 COVID-19 has been the third leading cause of death among men and women after cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Main causes of death

2021	Deaths		Mortality rates1
	Men	Women	Men	Women
All causes of death	35 105	36 087	501.7	342.2
Infectious diseases	445	449	6.2	4.1
COVID-19	3 156	2 801	42.5	24.1
Total malignant tumours	9 265	7 615	136.3	92.9
Colon2	583	475	8.4	5.3
Lung	1 911	1 318	29.2	17.6
Breast	6	1 363	0.1	17.1
Diabetes mellitus	570	525	7.8	4.6
Dementia	1 842	3 953	22.6	28.7
Cardiovascular diseases	9 114	10 531	122.6	83.3
Total heart disease	7 145	8 139	96.1	63
Ischemic heart disease	3 616	2 695	49.8	21.5
Cerebral vascular disease	1 408	1 904	18.7	15.9
Total respiratory diseases	1 937	1 675	25.8	15.9
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis	231	116	3.9	1.9
Accidents and violent deaths	2 277	1 644	39.3	18.6
Accidents	1 401	1 249	22.4	11.5
Suicide	719	286	13.9	5.5

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

Causes of death by age and sex

The frequency of these causes varies by age. Perinatal causes of death predominate in the first year of life, followed by congenital diseases. Although death from the age of 1 to 14 is uncommon, there are many different causes. The majority of deaths from the age of 15 to roughly 45 are caused by accidents and suicide. After this age, the most common cause of death is cancer. From around the age of 80 this is overtaken by cardiovascular diseases. In addition, in 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 also showed age-specific distribution. Older people aged 65 and over in particular were more likely to die from COVID-19.

Potential years of life lost

The potential years of life lost (PYLL) are an indication of premature mortality (before the age of 70). For men, 27% of PYLL was due to external causes such as accidents and violence. This was closely followed by cancer, to which 26% of PYLL in men can be attributed. In women, however, 43% of PYLL was due to cancer, while external causes were in second place for premature mortality at 16%. Cardiovascular diseases account for 15% of PYLL among men and 9% among women. Premature mortality due to COVID-19 came fourth among men in 2020, accounting for 3% of PYLL, after cancer, external causes and cardiovascular disease. Among women, it came fifth at 2% of PYLL, after cancer, external causes, cardiovascular disease and diseases of the respiratory organs. In 2021, the proportion of PYLL due to COVID-19 increased in both men and women compared with 2020, and at 4% for both sexes came fourth after cancer, external causes and cardiovascular disease.

Suicide

At a younger age, suicide is a relatively common cause of death when compared with deaths due to illness. Suicide rates continue to increase with age. Suicide was the cause of 1.4% of all deaths in Switzerland. In 2020, no increase in the suicide rate was observed due to the pandemic. In comparison with the previous years 2018 and 2019, the trend was mostly stable. In 2021, compared with 2020, there was a slight increase in the suicide rate for both men (+1.5%, +23 persons) and women (+1.9%, +10 persons). A total of 1005 people took their own lives.

Assisted suicide is a different phenomenon. In contrast to suicide, assisted suicide is more common among people aged 65 and above than among younger people. It is usually associated with a serious, incurable illness. Assisted suicide is the cause of death in 20 out of 1000 deaths in Switzerland.

Cause of death by nationality

In 2021, over a quarter of the Swiss resident population were foreign nationals (27% of men and 24% of women). This section of the population was considerably younger and therefore had a lower risk of dying. Only around 11% of deaths concerned foreign nationals (14% of deceased men and 9% of deceased women).

With regard to cancer and other broad cause of death categories with a frequency of at least 1% of all deaths, there were differences between foreign and Swiss nationals. The mortality rate for foreign nationals was at least one third higher than it was for Swiss persons for COVID-19, stomach cancer and perinatal causes of death. In contrast, mortality rates for foreign nationals were at least one third lower than for Swiss nationals for lung cancer (women), prostate cancer (men), bronchitis (women), and suicides.

Provisional results of the Cause of death statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cause of death reporting takes place following coding according to the WHO’s ICD-10 classification system. In accordance with international custom, reporting is done on an annual basis, which allows regional and temporal comparisons to be made. As usual, these statistics will continue to be produced for each year.

In order to produce timely information on causes of death with regard to mortality related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSO is currently accelerating the coding and publication process.

This means that from the calendar year 2020 onwards, the provisional results of the Cause of Death Statistics will be published continuously, depending on the current coding status. Taking account of COVID-19 as main and accompanying cause, the Cause of Death Statistics will be reported for each individual month. Due to expected late registrations and outstanding data, the results are provisional.

The following tables are published, each by month and sex:
(1) Most important causes of death with COVID-19 as concomitant disease
(2) Deaths with COVID-19 as main cause, with concomitant causes
(3) COVID-19 deaths according to the FSO population database and FOPH reporting system

The tables can be found on the website in German or French.

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