Some 27.5% of the 74,425 deaths among the resident population last year were due to cardiovascular issues, while cancer was responsible for 23.1%.

As was already the case before the Covid-19 pandemic, dementia was the third-most common cause at 8.8%, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on Monday. Respiratory diseases (6.1%) and Covid itself (5.5%) were next-most lethal.

Last year, the standardised mortality rate was 504 per 100,000 for men – with an average age at death of 77 – and 352 per 100,000 for women, with an average age of 83.

Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 9,512 deaths (26.1%) among men and 10,951 (28.8%) among women. The standardised rate increased by 0.5% for the former (+398 deaths) and by 1% for the latter (+420 deaths). The average age of men who died from such a disease was 81.4, compared to 87.4 for women. ...