For the first time in history, cancer has become the leading cause of death in Spain. These data, recently published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), show that in 2023, 26.6 percent of the deaths were due to cancer, surpassing for the first time the circulatory ailmentswhich reached a 26.5 percent. Thus, the rate of deaths from tumors was 237.8 per 100,000 inhabitantssurpassing the record achieved by deaths due to circulatory ailments, which remains at a 237.5.
Spanish Oncology has been warning of the danger that cancer is generating among an increasingly aging population, also adding trends such as a poor lifestyle or sedentary lifestyle. Between the different types of cancer, those of bronchi and lung were the most frequent, reaching a total of 22,717 deaths. The second tumor that causes the most deaths is that of colonwith 10,891, although it achieved 2.3 percent less than the previous year.
Throughout 2023, the tumors caused a total of 115,013 deadfollowed closely by those caused by the circulatory system diseaseswhich reach the figure of 114,856. Far behind is the third leading cause of death in Spain, which is Diseases of the respiratory systemwith 46,807 deaths. Finally, the fourth leading cause of death is for nervous system diseases and the sense organs, with 25,774 deaths.
Deaths from pneumonia reach 17.1%
At a statistical level, the INE indicates that the pathologies that increased the most were respiratorySpecifically, the deaths from pneumonia reached 17.1 percent and the chronic lower respiratory tract diseases 2.6 percent. Regarding strokes, a decrease of 6.1 percent was achieved compared to 2022, leaving a total of 23,173 deaths.
Another fact highlighted by the INE is that 95.5 percent of the deaths that took place in 2023 were generated by natural causeswhile 4.1 percent were caused by external causes. Change of trend highlighted by the Spanish institution is that accidental falls become the main cause of external death, surpassing suicides for the first time.
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