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Published: 21 December 2012

Alcohol mortality decreased further in 2011

According to Statistics Finland's statistics on causes of death, alcohol mortality decreased by four per cent in 2011 from the previous year. The fall is mainly caused by decreasing alcohol mortality among men. A total of 1,890 persons died from alcohol-related causes, 1,450 men and 440 women. Deaths from alcohol-related causes are considerably more common among men than women. They are also the most common cause of death for persons of working age.

Over the past twenty years, the alcohol mortality of men aged 65 or over has doubled. The growth has been faster than for all men in total. Nevertheless, the largest share of those dying from alcohol-related causes were of working age and only 23 per cent were aged 65 or over. The share is unchanged from the year before.

Mortality from alcohol-related diseases and accidental poisoning by alcohol in 1991 to 2011

Altogether 50,568 persons died in 2011. The figure was just short of one per cent smaller than in the previous year. The longer life expectancy can be seen in the age distribution of deaths: over the past twenty years the share of deaths of those aged 85 or over has increased, while the share of those aged 65 to 79 has decreased. This is particularly true for women, who, on average, live longer than men and thus also die at an older age. Increased mortality of aged people is visible in causes of death primarily as the growing number of deaths from dementia and diseases of the circulatory system.

Forty per cent of deaths in 2011 were caused by diseases of the circulatory system. The second highest number of deaths, 24 per cent, were caused by neoplasms. Dementia (inclusive of Alzheimer's disease) caused 12 per cent of deaths in 2011.

Causes of death in 2011 (54-group classification)

	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females
	Number	Number	Number	%	%	%
Diseases of the circulatory system	20 157	9 791	10 366	39,9	38,7	41,1
Neoplasms	11 897	6 224	5 673	23,5	24,6	22,5
Dementia, Alzheimer's disease	6 200	1 892	4 308	12,3	7,5	17,1
Accidents	2 383	1 536	847	4,7	6,1	3,4
Disease of the respiratory system	2 034	1 263	771	4,0	5,0	3,1
Alcohol related diseases and accidental poisoning by alcohol	1 889	1 447	442	3,7	5,7	1,8
Suicides	912	710	202	1,8	2,8	0,8
Other causes of death	5 096	2 464	2 632	10,1	9,7	10,4
Deaths total	50 568	25 327	25 241	100,0	100,0	100,0

Source: Causes of death, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marja-Liisa Helminen 09 1734 3273, Airi Pajunen 09 1734 3605, kuolemansyyt@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (460.6 kB)

Reviews

• 1. Causes of death in 2011 (21.12.2012)
• 2. Ischaemic heart disease causes more than every fifth death (21.12.2012)
• 3. Deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's disease are increasing (21.12.2012)
• 4. Alcohol-related causes of death are decreasing (21.12.2012)
• 5. Accidental falls were the most common accidents leading to death (21.12.2012)
• 6. The number of suicides continues decreasing (21.12.2012)
• 7. No maternal deaths in 2011 (21.12.2012)

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Appendix tables

• Appendix table 1a. Deaths by underlying cause of death (54-group classification) and by age in 2011, both sexes (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 1b. Deaths by underlying cause of death (54-group classification) and by age in 2011, men (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 1c. Deaths by underlying cause of death (54-group classification) and by age in 2011, women (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 2. Deaths from accidents by external cause and deaths from alcohol intoxication 2011 (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 3. Mortality during infant and perinatal period 1987 - 2011 (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 4. Mean population 2011 by age and gender (21.12.2012)
• Appendix table 5. Standard population used in calculating age-standardised figures (21.12.2012)

Quality descriptions

• Quality Description, Causes of death 2011 (21.12.2012)

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Updated 21.12.2012