Mortality fell significantly in Austria last year and, with 89,760 deaths, was five percent below the average from 2020 to 2022. However, there was no change in the causes of death: here, cardiovascular disease continued to lead the way, ahead of cancer, CBS said on Wednesday. More than half of the dead were over 80 years old.
“The death rate, adjusted for population growth and age structure, was also about one percent below the average for the pre-Corona period 2015 to 2019,” said Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria. Cardiovascular disease (31,129 deaths) and cancer (21,067) were responsible for 58 percent of all deaths in 2023.
Mortality continued to decline
In both groups, mortality has decreased compared to the years before the pandemic (respectively minus 15 and minus six percent). In contrast, mortality due to dementia (plus 48 percent) and Parkinson’s disease (plus 13 percent) had increased significantly.
Suicide mortality returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 (up three percent compared to the 2015 to 2019 average), after being slightly lower in 2020 and 2021.
Covid becoming less deadly
Covid mortality fell again in 2023 and was 61 percent below the average for the years 2020 to 2022. In addition to circulatory diseases (35 percent) and cancer (24 percent), there were respiratory diseases (six percent). Other important causes are injuries and poisonings (six percent), dementia (four percent) and diseases of the digestive organs (four percent).
More than half of the deaths in the previous year (52,258 deaths) occurred after the age of 80. About 40 percent of all deaths occurred between the ages of 40 and 80 – here mainly due to cancer (almost a third).
Suicide as a common cause of death among young people
Suicides, accidents and cancer were the most common causes of death among young people and adults between the ages of ten and forty (together only two percent of deaths). Accidents and cancer were most common in children aged one to ten years (0.1 percent of deaths), while birth complications and congenital malformations were most common in infants (220 deaths in 2023 or 0.2 percent).
Source: Krone
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