Stats SA causes of death in SA

The top ten causes of death in SA.

Photo: Statistics South Africa

Stats SA: Here are the most common causes of death in each province

KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape have the highest number of deaths due to non-natural causes according to data released by Stats SA.

Stats SA causes of death in SA

The top ten causes of death in SA.

Photo: Statistics South Africa

KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape lead with the highest number of deaths due to non-natural causes (such as homicides, suicides, accidents, etc.) according to a report issues by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) this week.

Stats SA released the top ten leading causes of natural death for the year 2018. The data is based on death notification forms maintained by the Department of Home Affairs. Stats SA said that deaths due to COVID-19 as these will be published after the 2020 processing cycle

CAUSES OF DEATHS IN SA PROVINCES

According to Stats SA, KwaZulu-Natal (13,5%) and Western Cape (13,0%) had the highest proportion of deaths due to non-natural causes. This comes as no surprise, given how crime-ridden and violent these provinces are. On the other hand, the lowest percentage of deaths due to non-natural causes were observed in Limpopo (8,9%).

Deaths due to other external causes of accidental injury accounted for more than 50% of non-natural deaths in all the provinces, with the exception of Northern Cape where it was 40,2%.

Transport accidents were the second most common cause of non-natural deaths in Limpopo, Northern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga, with Limpopo having the highest number of deaths due to this cause, responsible for 30,1% of deaths.

Assault was the second most common non-natural cause of death in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal with the highest being in Eastern Cape, responsible for 22,7% of deaths in the province.

STATS SA REPORT: THIS IS WHAT KILLS SOUTH AFRICANS

According to the report, these are the top ten causes of death in the country:

  • tuberculosis
  • diabetes mellitus
  • cerebrovascular diseases
  • other forms of heart disease
  • human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease
  • hypertensive diseases
  • influenza and pneumonia
  • Ischaemic heart diseases
  • chronic lower respiratory diseases
  • and malignant neoplasms of digestive organs.

READ: Tuberculosis remains SA’s single largest contributor to death