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Europe’s Top Causes of Death, Ranked—Cancer Is #2
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Key Takeaways
- Circulatory diseases—such as heart attacks and strokes—are top causes of death in the EU, claiming 1.7 million lives, or 33% of all deaths, in 2022.
- Cancer was the second most common cause, at 1.2 million (23% of deaths in 2022).
- Coronary heart disease (which causes heart attacks) and lung cancer (the most common form of cancer) are two of the most preventable causes of death in the EU.
More than 5 million people died in the EU in 2022.
The infographic breaks down top causes of death that year, revealing the persistent dominance of heart-related illnesses and the continued threat from cancer.
Data for this visualization comes from Eurostat.
While the data is somewhat dated, it was only released in March, 2025, and points to ongoing trends in mortality patterns.
Cardiovascular Diseases Still Top the List
Diseases of the circulatory system (think heart diseases and strokes) accounted for nearly 1.7 million deaths in 2022.
This was more than the combined total of the next two categories.
| Rank | Main Cause of Death | Examples | Deaths (2022) | Readable Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Circulatory diseases | Heart attacks, strokes |
1,684,886 | 1.7M |
| 2 | Cancer | Lung cancer, colorectal cancer |
1,151,039 | 1.2M |
| 3 | Respiratory diseases | Eg: Pneumonia, Bronchitis |
363,461 | 364K |
| 4 | COVID-19 | N/A | 311,600 | 312K |
| 5 | External causes | Eg: Accidents, homicides |
242,363 | 242K |
| 6 | Digestive system diseases |
Eg: Liver cirrhosis, Hepatitis |
216,927 | 217K |
| 7 | Nervous system diseases |
Eg: Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease |
212,413 | 212K |
| 8 | Mental & behavioural disorders |
Eg: Dementia, substance use disorders |
210,795 | 211K |
| 9 | Hormone, diet & metabolism disorders |
Eg: Diabetes, malnutrition |
178,602 | 179K |
| N/A | Other | Includes diseases not listed as the main cause, as well as unknown & unspecified causes |
583,959 | 584K |
| N/A | EU | N/A | 5,156,145 | 5.5M |
Note: Per the World Health Organization (WHO), a main cause of death is “the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury.” Data derived from the medical certificate of death, which is obligatory in the Member States. The information recorded in the death certificate is according to the rules specified by the WHO.
Cardiovascular mortality correlates strongly with age: people over 65 represent about 9 in 10 of these deaths.
For reference, 85% of all deaths in this year (4.4 million) occurred among people aged over the age of 65.
Related: Europe has some of the highest life expectancies in the world.
Central and Eastern European countries, where smoking and hypertension rates remain high, record the highest death rates per 100,000 residents.
Cancer’s Persistent—and Growing—Burden
Cancer caused 1.15 million EU deaths in 2022, or just under one-quarter of the total.
Lung cancer leads the pack for men, while breast cancer is the deadliest for women.
When looking at totals however, lung and colorectal cancers accounted for one-third of all cancer deaths in the EU.
Unlike circulatory diseases, cancer mortality trends vary sharply by tumor type.
For example, deaths from stomach cancer have fallen around the world, yet pancreatic cancer deaths continue to rise.
COVID-19 and Other Rising Threats
Respiratory diseases took 363,000 lives, but that figure excludes the 312,000 officially attributed to COVID-19 in 2022.
Globally, the pandemic catapulted infectious disease back into the top five causes of death for the first time in decades.
Meanwhile, deaths linked to nervous-system disorders such as Alzheimer’s (212,000) now rival those from digestive diseases (like liver cirrhosis).
As Europe’s population continues to age, dementia-related deaths are projected to surge—posing new challenges for healthcare systems.
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