COSTA RICA VS BELGIUM: TOP 10 CAUSES OF DEATH
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BELGIUM | COSTA RICA | Deaths | ||
| Cause Of Death | Rnk | Deaths | Rnk | Deaths | Summary |
| Coronary Heart Disease | 1 | 6,718 | 1 | 2,639 | + 4,078 |
| Alzheimers & Dementia | 2 | 4,139 | 8 | 818 | + 3,321 |
| Stroke | 3 | 3,256 | 2 | 1,624 | + 1,632 |
| Lung Cancers | 4 | 2,979 | 20 | 343 | + 2,636 |
| Lung Disease | 5 | 2,830 | 4 | 1,046 | + 1,784 |
| Influenza and Pneumonia | 6 | 2,496 | 7 | 836 | + 1,660 |
| Colon-Rectum Cancers | 7 | 1,463 | 12 | 621 | + 843 |
| Kidney Disease | 8 | 1,298 | 3 | 1,482 | - 185 |
| Breast Cancer | 9 | 1,137 | 16 | 384 | + 753 |
| Suicide | 10 | 928 | 15 | 407 | + 521 |
| TOTAL DEATHS | |||||
Note: Population is Equalized to COSTA RICA
Belgium
Costa Rica
THE INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE
The point of this intellectual exercise is to measure what would happen if two countries shared the same leading causes of death. To make these comparisons possible we equalized the population and used total deaths for each country's top 10 causes to simulate an "Exchange." Use the chart on the left to sort by the country name and use the summary plus and minus column to measure the differences in total deaths.
Life Expectancy statistics are calculated the same way everywhere in the world, but what we die from can be very different depending upon where we live. Despite these differences, with rare exception, the top 10 causes of death for any given country will represent between 70-80% of their total deaths. This is an intellectual exercise only, not a comparison of which country is healthier or to challenge existing life expectancy rankings. If you prefer to see total deaths for over 80 causes and choose your own countries to compare go here: https://www.globallifeexpectancy.com/world-rankings-total-deaths
ABOUT OUR DATA
All meaningful comparisons between countries should be made using the same data source and year. The most reliable source for International comparisons is the World Health Organization because it is standardized for cross cultural comparisons. It is also reviewed annually, which often makes it more current than individual country data that can take years to compile. The WHO data includes individual country "projections," that are calculated based upon an annual consultation with each country before it is published. There are differences however, such as WHO data separates different forms of heart disease and cancer and combines Alzheimer's with Dementia. In this top 10 comparison WHO data for both countries was used.
