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Mortality and Causes of Death

Contents

  1. General mortality
  2. Causes of death
  3. Premature mortality
  4. Causes of premature death
  5. Infant mortality

Summary

This chapter presents an overview of general (all ages), premature (below 75 years old), and infant (below one year old) mortality in Belgium. All-cause and cause-specific mortality are analyzed for general and premature mortality.
General mortality
In 2021, 112,291 deaths were observed in Belgium.
The age-adjusted mortality rate in 2021 seems to be converging back to pre-COVID mortality patterns although male mortality in 2021 is still elevated compared to 2019 results.
The age-adjusted mortality rate is higher in men than in women, and higher in Wallonia and Brussels than Flanders.
Causes of death
Approximately half of deaths in both sexes are due to tumours or cardiovascular diseases. Tumours became the main cause of death in 2019. The main causes of death are ischaemic heart disease and lung cancer in men and dementia and cerebrovascular disease in women. Mortality due to mental and neurological diseases is increasing.
Premature mortality
The age-adjusted premature mortality (defined here as mortality before age 75) was 344 per 100 000 inhabitants in 2021 in Belgium, slightly higher than in 2019.
The age-adjusted premature mortality is much higher in men than in women.
There are large regional and districts disparities. Compared to previous years, the regional disparities have widened in 2020 and 2021.
Causes of premature mortality
The conditions with the highest burden in term of years of life lost before 75 years are suicide, lung cancer, and ischemic heart diseases in men, and breast cancer, lung cancer, and suicide in women.
For most conditions, the premature mortality rates decreased between the years 2000 and 2019, except for lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among women.
The causes contributing most to the higher premature mortality rates in the Walloon Region and in the Brussel Capital Region compared to the Flemish Region are ischemic heart disease in men and COPD in women.
Infant mortality
In 2019, the infant mortality rate was 3.6 per thousand live births. Infant mortality has sharply declined over the last decennia in Belgium. Current rates and trends are similar in the three regions.