8 / 188
Health systems in transition
Portugal
8
Table 1.3
Mortality and longevity indicators in Portugal, 1995–2014 (selected years)
1995
2000
2005
2010
2014
Life expectancy at birth, total
75.4
76.8
78.2
80.1
81.3
b
Life expectancy at birth, male
71.7
73.3
74.9
76.8
78.0
b
Life expectancy at birth, female
79.0
80.4
81.5
83.2
84.4
b
Mortality, SDR per 100 000 population
a
Circulatory diseases (CID-10: I00–I99)
320.9
263.7
208.7
167.4
150.8
Malignant neoplasms (CID-10: C00–C97)
164.5
160.3
155.3
154.4
152.0
Communicable diseases (CID-10: A00–B99)
18.0
19.5
16.9
16.6
12.8
External causes of death (CID-10: V01–Y89)
53.4
39.9
35.9
32.3
32.3
All causes (CID-10: A00–Y89)
804.8
735.6
670.0
586.4
538.0
Infant mortality rate (per 1 000 live births)
7.4
5.5
3.5
2.5
2.9
Maternal mortality rate (per 100 000 live births)
a
9.9
8.8
5.2
5.8
5.6
c
Source
: Eurostat, 2016a.
Notes
:
a
Authors’ calculations based on INE, 2016a;
b
estimated;
c
2013 data.disposable income (after social transfers).
1.4.1 Leading causes of death
According to the latest available data, the main causes of death in 2014 were
malignant neoplasms (152.0 deaths per 100 000 population) and circulatory
system diseases (150.8 deaths per 100 000 population) (Table 1.3). However, when
analysing standardized death rates (SDRs) by gender, SDRs for men are greater
than SDRs for women in all causes, except for Alzheimer disease (INE, 2016c).
This is in line with the fact that, on average, women live longer than men.
In 2014, circulatory system diseases killed 177.9 men per 100 000 population
and 128.1 women per 100 000 population, while malignant neoplasms killed
212.9 men per 100 000 and 105.4 women per 100 000. Respiratory diseases
were, for both sexes, the third most important cause of death but they accounted
for a much lower proportion of deaths: 11.6% of all deaths; SDR: 72.4 men per
100 000 population and 40.9 women per 100 000 population (INE, 2016c). The
SDR for circulatory diseases has decreased since 2000 for both men (–41.5%)
and women (–44.4%); the SDR for malignant neoplasms has reduced by only
3.3% for men and 9.0% for women over the same period.
Between 2000 and 2014, the SDR for colon cancer increased substantially
by 51.3% among men and 30.4% among women. Also, among women, the
SDR for trachea, bronchus and lung cancers increased from 7.6 to 9.4 (+23.7%)
in the same period. Finally, among men, the SDR for suicide more than
doubled (+102.7%) between 2000 (7.4 per 100 000 population) and 2014 (15.0 per
100 000 population) (INE, 2016c).