Good news: Fewer people died in the UK last year
The number of deaths registered in England and Wales dipped by 1.1 per cent last year, official figures show – the lowest level since 1994.
The figures showed there were 501,424 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2014, down 1.1 per cent compared with the year below.
And it seems women are still outliving their male counterparts – broken down by million members of the population, there were 11,213 male deaths, compared with 8,219 women.
Although men seem to be getting healthier – mortality rates have fallen 20 per cent for men since 2004, but only 17 per cent for women.
Cancer continued to be the biggest killer, accounting for 29 per cent of all registered deaths. Meanwhile, heart disease was the leading cause of death for men, making up 14.8 per cent of all male deaths, and dementia was the leading cause for women, making up 13.4 per cent of female deaths.
This chart shows the biggest killers amongst the UK population. For comparison, we’re showing just those diseases that were among the top ten causes of death for men and women.
Breast cancer accounted for 3.9 per cent of female deaths (4.1 in 2004), making it the seventh-highest cause of death. Prostate cancer for men was the seventh-highest killer at 4.1 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent in 2004.
