Finland Times

 

Causes of death for deaths at working age, i.e. age 15 to 64 in 1990 to 2014. Source: Causes of death, Statistics Finland.

Nearly 8,700 Finns including 5,900 men and 2,700 women died at working age, that is, aged 15 to 64, showing that the mortality of people of working age has gone down in ten years by one quarter, according to Statistics Finland's statistics on causes of death.

 

The number of those dying of diseases of the circulatory system and accidents has diminished most during the time.

 

At the same time the total number of persons of working age has not changed.

 

Over one-half of working-age people died of neoplasm and diseases of the circulatory system in 2014.

 

Fewer people than before die at working age, the statistics show.

 

The age-standardised mortality of working-age people has diminished in ten years by 25 per cent. Among the main groups, mortality has declined most in diseases of the circulatory system and accidents, but the development has been positive in other most common cause of death groups as well.

 

Since 2001, most persons of working age have died of neoplasm instead of diseases of the circulatory system.

 

In 2014, nearly 2,500 people of working age died of neoplasm, while around 2,000 died of diseases of the circulatory system.

  

Nearly one-third of those dying at working age died of accidents, suicides and alcohol-related causes. The vast majority of them, 78 per cent, were men as per the data.

 

Almost 1,300 persons of working age died of alcohol-related causes in 2014, majority of them men.

 

The number of deaths was nearly ten per cent lower than in the year before. The number of those dying of alcohol-related diseases and alcohol poisonings has decreased starting from 2008.

 

The number of accidents among all people of working age has also contracted by over one-third since 2004.

 

In 2014, around 800 persons of working age died of accidents, 600 of whom were men and 200 women.

 

The number of suicides among working-age people was over 600, which is more than one-quarter fewer than ten years earlier.

 

Only every third person dying at working age was a woman. The mortality of working-age men has diminished in ten years more than that of women and  so the difference in mortality between genders has narrowed down somewhat.

 

In 2014, the most common cause of death group for working-age women was neoplasm, of which as many as 41 per cent of women died. The most common cancer for women was breast cancer, which caused the death of nearly every tenth working-age woman.

 

Main causes of death among working-age population (aged 15 to 64) in 2014

 

54-group time series classification	Total	Males	Females	Total	Males	Females
	Number	Number	Number	%	%	%
04–22 Neoplasms	2 479	1 354	1 125	29	23	41
27–30 Diseases of the circulatory system	1 958	1 524	434	23	26	16
31–35 Disease of the respiratory system	198	134	64	2	2	2
41 Alcohol related diseases and accidental poisoning by alcohol	1 258	1 012	246	15	17	9
42–49 Accidents	798	612	186	9	10	7
50 Suicides	624	472	152	7	8	6
Other causes of death	1 346	841	505	16	14	19
01–54 Deaths total	8 661	5 949	2 712	100	100	100

Source: Causes of death, Statistics Finland.