Bulgaria had the highest death rate in the EU in 2020 - Eurostat

With 1,787 deaths per 100,000 people, Bulgaria had the highest death rate in the European Union in 2020, Eurostat reports.

Bulgaria was followed by Romania (1,622), Hungary (1,513), Lithuania (1,482) and Latvia (1,445).

At the opposite end of the scale, France (863 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants) and Ireland (892) registered the lowest mortality rates in EU countries, ahead of Luxembourg (905), Finland (917) and Spain (919).

In 2020, apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, the main cause of death in all EU countries was diseases of the circulatory system, with the exception of Denmark, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, where the main cause was cancer, according to Eurostat.

These two groups of diseases remain the leading causes of death. A total of 1.7 million people died from diseases of the circulatory system and almost 1.2 million died from cancer.

Among the EU members, the highest share of deaths due to diseases of the organs of the circulatory system (61%) was in Bulgaria and the lowest (20%) in France, while the highest share of deaths due to cancer (29%) was reported in Ireland and the lowest (15%) in Bulgaria.

Diseases of the circulatory system and cancer together account for 55% of causes of death in the EU, ranging from 42% in Belgium to 76% in Bulgaria.

In the year the pandemic broke out, it was the third leading cause of death in the EU with a total of almost 439 000 deaths. The highest share of deaths caused by COVID-19 was recorded in Belgium (18%) and Spain (15%), and the lowest in Finland and Estonia (both 1%).