In the years 2000 to 2019, the age-standardized mortality rate in Israel decreased by 29% for males and 28% for females, according to the Health Ministry in Jerusalem, which issues its “Causes of Death” report every year.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly caused a reversal of that trend, according to the 86-page report just released by the ministry’s information division. In the months of the new Coronavirus, between March 2020 and December 2021, the rate of total gross deaths in the country was six percent higher compared to the rate in the corresponding months on average in 2017 to 2019 and among those aged 65 and over by four percent. 

In 2020, the age-standardized mortality rate was three percent higher than the 2019 rate, one percent for females and five percent for males. In 2021, the estimated age-standardized mortality rate was six percent higher than in 2019, four percent for females and seven percent for males.

Since 1999, cancer has been the first cause of death and heart disease the second cause; this can be compared with the US, where cardiovascular disease is number one and cancer number two.

As every year, the information division publishes for public inspection information from the last two decades in Israel, including an international comparison, about the leading causes of death and an estimate of mortality.

The publication includes age-standardized mortality rates and rates by age, sex, year and cause of death, depending on the underlying cause of death and also by multiple causes as well as the percentage of deaths in general hospitals by cause.

In addition, the number of deaths by causes of death and month is presented in the average years 2017 to 2019 and the number of deaths in the last two years 2020 through 2021.

The data are presented by week and also shows the ratio between the rate of total deaths in the period of COVID-19 compared to the average rate for the years before the COVID-19 2017-2019 per month.

Information regarding the registration of deaths is based on the Population Registry. The information regarding the coding of the causes of death and the population estimate is based on Central Bureau of Statistics data.

Death is more common in the winter than in the summer. On average in 2017 to 2019, the number of deaths was 1.4 times higher in January than in August, two times higher from pneumonia, 1.9 times higher from diseases of the lower respiratory tract, 1.7 times higher from kidney diseases, 1.6 times higher from heart disease, 1.5 times higher from complications of diabetes and sepsis, 1.4 times higher from vascular diseases, stroke and accidents, 1.2 times from dementia and 1.1 times from cancer.

On average 2017 to 2019, cancer was the leading cause of death for females aged 15 and over and males aged 25 and over and heart disease the second cause for men and women aged 45 and over.

Accidents were the first cause for boys and young men aged 15 to 24 and the second for 25 to 44, the second cause for girls aged 15 to 24 and the third for 25 to 44 and the third for boys and girls aged 0 to 14. Suicide was the second cause for males aged 15 to 24 and women aged 25 to 44, and the third for females aged 15 to 24 and men aged 25 to 44.

On average in 2017 to 2019, there was a decrease in the standardized death rate for age by 13% for women and 10% for men compared to the average for 2008 to 2010, a decrease was recorded in most causes of death:

There was a decrease in cerebrovascular disease by 29% for females and 18% for males, diabetes by 26% and 21%, respectively, from heart disease by 26% and 21%, respectively, from kidney disease by 18% and 23%, respectively, and accidents at 24% and 17%, respectively.

There was an increase in dementia in 68% for females and 65% for males, in sepsis by 35% and 45%, respectively, in pneumonia and influenza by 12% and 18%, respectively, in Alzheimer’s by 28% and 12%. %, Respectively, in pneumonia due to inhalation of solids/liquids in 14% and 33%, respectively, and in Parkinson’s in six percent for females and 13% for males.

In an international comparison, the age-standardized death rate in Israel is ranked as third lowest out of 25 Western countries, the rate for males is ranked second and females fourth. The rate is low in most causes of death, but 4.7 times higher in sepsis, 2.7 times higher in kidney disease, 2.3 times higher for unknown reasons, 2.2 times higher in diabetes, 1.3 times higher in hypertension compared to the average of 15 Western European countries in the EU in 2018.