Mortality from infectious diseases rose to the third cause of death before diabetes • Increase in Alzheimer's death • In the Arab sector, three times deaths from murder and road accidents

Cancer and heart disease are the leading causes of death in Israel. After them: infectious diseases, whose death rates have risen in the last decade, and have pushed diabetes to the fourth cause of death. Stability in Parkinson's death rate, and an increase in Alzheimer's death rates over the past decade - data from causes of death and death in Israel published by the Central Bureau of Statistics show.

The ten most common causes of death in 2017 resulted in 73% of all deaths that year (seven out of ten deceased). About a quarter (25.2%) of all people died of malignant tumors (cancer) and 22.8% of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease (without rheumatic heart disease) died 14.8% of the deceased. Infectious diseases accounted for 5.6% of those who died, diabetes - 5.2%, and cerebrovascular disease (stroke) - 4.7% of those who died.

Malignant tumors and heart disease were the two common causes of death in both sexes. Malignant tumors caused 25.1% of deaths among men and 25.2% among women. Heart disease caused 15.6% of deaths in men and 13.9% of deaths in women.

The most common cancers in men: bronchial and lung respiratory cancer (23.1% of all cancer deaths), colorectal and rectal cancer (10.9%), and pancreatic cancer (8.6%). The most common cancers among women were: breast cancer (21.8% of all cancer deaths), tracheal, bronchial and lung cancer (11.0%), and colorectal and rectal cancer (10.2%).

Among men, the third cause of death was infectious disease (5.7% of deaths) followed by all external causes (5.6% of deaths). Among women, the third cause of death was infectious disease (5.9% of deaths) followed by diabetes (5.6%). External causes of death were fourth place among men and ninth place among women. Dementia was the fifth cause of death in women and ninth in men.

The distribution of causes of death varies with age. Among infants (up to one year of age), the most common causes of death are maternal causes (41.9% of all deaths) and birth defects (36.9%). Among infants (4-1 years of age) the most common causes of death are external causes (26.8% of all deaths) and birth defects (19.6%). In childhood (17-5 years) the most common causes of death are external causes (35.3%) and cancer (24.9%).

Among young people aged 24-18 most deaths are caused by external causes (54.8%). In the 44-25 age group, the most common causes of death are cancer and external causes (29.1% and 26.1%, respectively).

Cancer is the most common cause of death in the 64-45 age group (40.1%) and in the 84-65 age group (31.2%). In the 85+ age group, the most common cause of death is heart disease (19.6%).

The distribution of causes of death of the Jewish population differs from that of the Arab population in Israel. For example, in the Arab sector three times more than the Jewish sector die from murder, and 2.7 times more than road accidents. Malignant tumors caused 25.3% of deaths among Jews, compared with 21.3% among Arabs. The fourth cause of death among Arabs is the group of all external causes, which accounts for 7.2% of deaths in this population group, compared with 3.7% among Jews. Some of the differences in the distribution of causes of death between Jews and Arabs are due to differences in the age distribution between the two populations - the Arab population is younger.

Since the early 1980s, there has been a significant decline in heart disease mortality, similar to the observed decline in the Western world. The death rate from cancer has been volatile over the years, but the general trend is a moderate decline. As a result, in the late 1990s, there was a reversal of the leading causes of death - malignant tumors (cancer) became the main cause of death and then heart disease.