NL – Some 151,885 people died in across the Netherlands in 2019, with cancer and cardiovascular diseases as the primary causes of death. About 1,500 fewer people died in the Netherlands in 2019 compared to a year earlier, and just over 22 percent were under the age of 70, national data agency Statistics Netherlands (CBS) said this week. Some 51 percent of those who passed away were women.
Roughly 45 thousand people (30%) passed away as a result of cancer, with just under ten thousand people dying from lung cancer alone. Lymphoma also led to 3,700 deaths, and 3,500 people lost their battle with colorectal cancer.
Cancer has been the number one cause of death for women in the Netherlands since 2016, and for men since 2005. The number of people who have died annually due to cancer has risen by 80 percent compared to 1970, when the disease killed 25 thousand. At the same time, cardiovascular disease as a cause of death fell by 46 percent over the past 50 years, from 50 thousand people to 37 thousand.
Cardiovascular disease was the reported cause in 25 percent of natural deaths last year, followed by mental and nervous system diseases (14.2%), respiratory illness (8.3%), and digestive diseases (5.7%).
Nearly 8,700 people (6%) died as a result of an unnatural cause, including accidental deaths, homicides and suicides.
