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. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease and cancer. In 2022, COVID-19 was the 5th leading cause of death, after dementia and respiratory diseases, ahead of accidents and acts of violence.

Main causes of death

2022	Deaths		Mortality rates1
	Men	Women	Men	Women
All causes of death	36 442	37 983	504.3	351.7
Infectious diseases	498	491	6.8	4.3
COVID-19	2 207	1 907	28.0	16
Total malignant tumours	9 310	7 910	133.2	94.8
Colon2	563	513	7.9	5.7
Lung	1 889	1 430	27.6	18.3
Breast	6	1 357	0.1	16.7
Diabetes mellitus	583	571	7.8	4.7
Dementia	2 047	4 499	24.3	32.2
Cardiovascular diseases	9 512	10 951	123.2	84.1
Total heart disease	7 609	8 601	98.2	64.8
Ischemic heart disease	3 731	2 750	49.4	21.5
Cerebral vascular disease	1 334	1 863	17.2	14.9
Total respiratory diseases	2 351	2 166	30.5	19.6
Alcoholic liver cirrhosis	283	125	4.8	2.0
Accidents and violent deaths	2 320	1 812	38.3	20
Accidents	1 480	1 443	22.7	13.3
Suicide	695	263	13.0	5.1

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 the pandemic years 2020 to 2022, 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). In 2022, at 26.6%, cancer accounted for the majority of PYLL in men, closely followed by external causes such as accidents and acts of violence, which accounted for 24.0% of PYLL in men. In women, however, 42.3% of PYLL was due to cancer, while external causes were in second place for premature mortality at 17.3%. Cardiovascular diseases account for 14.4% of PYLL among men and 7.6% among women. In fourth place in 2022, men lost 2.9% and women 3.3% of PYLL due to respiratory diseases. 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. In 2022, the proportion of PYLL due to COVID-19 decreased again slightly compared with 2021, ranking fifth after cancer, external causes and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases at 2.2% in men and 2.5% in 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. In 2022, suicide was the cause of 1.3% 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). In contrast, in the third pandemic year 2022, the suicide rate fell again compared with 2021 for men (-6.5%, -24 persons) and women (-7.3%, -23 persons). A total of 958 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. In 2022, assisted suicide was the cause of death in 21 out of 1000 deaths in Switzerland.

Cause of death by nationality

In 2022, over a quarter of the Swiss resident population were foreign nationals (28% of men and 25% 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 (13% 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 stomach cancer. In contrast, mortality rates for foreign nationals were at least one third lower than for Swiss nationals for lung cancer (women), prostate cancer (men), accidents and acts of violence (women), and suicides.

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

In order to produce timely information on causes of death with regard to mortality related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSO published the provisional results of the cause of death statistics for 2020 to 2022 on a monthly basis using the coding as it stood for any given month. Taking account of COVID-19 as main and concomitant cause, the Cause of death statistics were reported in this manner for each individual month. The final results for the entire statistical year were published as part of the annual Cause of death statistics.

The following tables were 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

Further information

Publications

All publications on the topic Specific causes of death

Press Releases

All press releases on the topic Specific causes of death

Statistical sources and concepts

Surveys