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. Sex and age influence the ranking of these causes.

Main causes of death

2019	Deaths		Mortality rates1
	Men	Women	Men	Women
All causes of death	32 756	35 024	488.3	341.9
Infectious diseases	365	450	5.4	4.1
Total malignant tumours	9 322	7 870	142.8	99.5
Colon2	586	555	8.9	6.5
Lung	1 847	1 387	29.2	19.4
Breast	4	1 414	0.1	18.6
Diabetes mellitus	611	549	8.6	4.8
Dementia	2 079	4 524	26.6	33.8
Cardiovascular diseases	9 114	10 787	128.1	87.4
Total heart disease	7 154	8 231	100.8	65.6
Ischemic heart disease	3 788	2 997	54.4	24.9
Cerebral vascular disease	1 387	2 002	19.1	16.9
Total respiratory diseases	2 366	2 195	33.0	20.8
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis	268	142	4.7	2.4
Accidents and violent deaths	2 158	1 619	38.3	18.3
Accidents	1 298	1 262	21.3	11.7
Suicide	742	276	14.6	5.3

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 of death varies according to 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.

Potential years of life lost

The potential years of life lost (PYLL) are an indication of premature mortality (before the age of 70). Cancer is the leading cause of premature mortality, accounting for 27% of years of potential life lost in men and for 46% women. Accidents and other violent deaths are the second most common causes of premature death among men (26%) and women (16%). Cardiovascular diseases account for 16% of PYLL among men and 9% among women.

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 is the cause of death in 15 out of 1000 deaths in Switzerland.

Assisted suicide is a different phenomenon. In contrast to suicide, assisted suicide is more common among people aged 65 and above than among young people. It is usually associated with a serious, incurable illness. Assisted suicide is the cause of death in 18 out of 1000 deaths in Switzerland.

Cause of death by nationality

In 2020, a quarter of the Swiss resident population were foreign nationals (27% of men and 24% of women). This section of the population is considerably younger and therefore has a lower risk of dying. Only around 11% of deaths concern foreign nationals (14% of deceased men and 8% of deceased women).

With regard to cancer and other broad cause of death categories, there were differences between foreign and Swiss nationals. The rates of death for stomach and lung cancer (men), cervical cancer (women, low case numbers) and perinatal causes of death are at least a third higher among foreign nationals than Swiss nationals. In contrast, the rates of death from lung cancer (women), pulmonary embolism (men), asthma (men, low case numbers), alcoholic liver cirrhosis (women), congenital malformations, and accidents and violent deaths (women) are at least a third lower among foreign nationals than Swiss nationals.

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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