Cancer the leading cause of death for people under 65 in the European Union

Brussels – Eurostat published today (May 7) a report on the main causes of death in the EU for people under 65 in 2021, showing that cancer is in first place for both men and women.

Carcinoma was the cause of death for 40.6 per cent of women and 25.6 per cent of men. The other most frequent causes of death for women under age 65 were circulatory diseases (14.9 per cent), COVID-19 (10.2 per cent) and respiratory diseases (4.2 per cent). In contrast, for men, after cancer come circulatory diseases (22.0 per cent), COVID-19 (9.8 per cent) and accidents (6.9 per cent).

The mortality rate in the EU for people under 65 dropped by 5 per cent between 2011 and 2021. Eurostat found above-average decreases for each of the three main causes of death: circulatory diseases by 17 per cent, accidents by 20 per cent, and cancer by 23 per cent.