Heart disease remains biggest killer in Spain

Heart disease remains the main cause of death in Spain according to the data for 2008 which has just been released by the National Statistics Institute. Cancer comes in second and respiratory illnesses third.

A total of 386,324 people died in Spain in 2008, 963 more than in 2007, with 186,677 female deaths and 199.647 male deaths. It means 847 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, a decrease of 1.3% on 2007.

The death rate is higher in the regions of Asturias, Galicia and Castilla y León, and considered to be so as the population is generally older in these areas. Likewise the younger populations lead the Canaries, Melilla and Madrid to have the lowest death rates.

A 20.7% fall in the number of deaths in road traffic accidents over the year, at 2,181 means that suicide has now become the main cause of non-natural death in the country at 3,421 deaths. 77.4% of the suicides were male.

The number of deaths from Aids was down 7.7% over the year at 1,212