14 June 2007
According to the mortality and causes of death statistics released by
Statistics South Africa, more than 590 00 deaths were recorded in 2005 across
South Africa. This is a 3,3% increase compared to 2004.
The first three leading underlying natural causes of death in 2005 were
tuberculosis, influenza and pneumonia and intestinal infectious diseases.
KwaZulu-Natal registered the highest number of deaths at 23,4%. It is
followed by Gauteng with 18,2% and the lowest is Northern Cape by 2,0%. The
overall number of deaths shows a continuous increase from 1997 to 2005.
Deaths by age and sex
The number of deaths was higher in age groups 0 to four and 30 to 34 than in
other ages, and lowest in age group 10 to 14. The overall number of deaths was
slightly higher for males as compared to females. For every 100 female deaths,
there were 102 male deaths. However, female deaths were higher than male deaths
in age groups 20 to 34 and from age group 70 to 74 up to age group 90 and
older. Furthermore, the rate of increase in the number of deaths between 2004
and 2005 was higher for females than for males.
Female deaths increased by 3,9% while male deaths increased by 2,7% between
these two years.
Natural causes of deaths
As with the previous years, the majority of deaths (91,0%) were linked to
natural causes. Furthermore, the percentage of deaths due to natural causes has
consistently increased for each year between 1997 and 2005. Between 2004 and
2005, natural deaths increased by a higher percentage (3,6%) than non-natural
causes (0,3%). The ten leading underlying natural causes of death for 2005 were
the same as those observed for 2004. Among the ten leading causes of death, the
diseases that showed higher increases in the number of deaths between 2004 and
2005 were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and diabetes
mellitus.
Diabetes mellitus was the sixth leading cause of natural death while HIV
disease was the tenth.
Lower respiratory diseases and ischaemic heart diseases were among the
leading natural causes of death only for the male deaths, while human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and hypertensive diseases were among the
ten leading causes only for the female deaths. With the exception of Free State
and Limpopo, the leading natural cause of death for all provinces was
tuberculosis. Influenza and pneumonia were the leading causes of natural deaths
in Free State and Limpopo.
Non-natural causes of deaths
The percentage of deaths due to non-natural causes was observed to decrease
with time. However transport accidents and assault dominated the non-natural
causes of death. The ages that were mostly affected by non-natural causes were
between five and 29 years, with males more affected than females.
Female deaths were mostly linked to transport accidents while male deaths
were mostly linked to assaults.
A full report is available on the website http://www.statssa.gov.za
Enquiries:
Trevor Oosterwyk
Cell: 082 908 9104
Issued by: Statistics South Africa
14 June 2007
Source: Statistics South Africa (http://www.statssa.gov.za)
