Doctors perform surgery (illustration)
Doctors perform surgery (illustration)Nati Shohat/Flash 90

The Central Bureau of Statistics published its breakdown of causes of death in Israel, based on data from 2013.

In that year, 41,479 residents of Israel – accounting for 0.5% of the population – passed away. Of these, 49.4% were male and 50.6% female.

About 80% were aged over 65. Of these, 65% were over 75 and 36% were over 85. About 6% of the deceased were under 45, and 1.3% were babies aged up to one year.

Cancer accounted for about 1 in 4 deaths. Cancer and heart disease combined were responsible for 41% of the deaths, and were the most common causes of death in both sexes.

The most common forms of cancer among men were cancer of the larynx, bronchial tubes and lungs (24.7% of cancer deaths); cancer of the large intestine, rectum and anus (11.9% of cancer deaths); and pancreatic cancer (8.3% of cancer deaths).

The most common forms of cancer among women were breast cancer (21.8% of cancer deaths); cancer of the large intestine, rectum and anus (11.6% of cancer deaths); and cancer of the larynx, bronchial tubes and lungs (11.5% of cancer deaths).

External causes of death were in third place among men and eighth place among women. Among men, suicide (at 6.8% of deaths) was 4.0 times more common than among women, where it accounted for 1.7% of deaths.

Death in road accidents for men accounted for 6.6% of deaths, as opposed to 1.8% for women. Death by murder was at 2.3% for men vs. 0.8% for women.