BELGIUM VS USA: TOP 10 CAUSES OF DEATH

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	UNITED STATES		BELGIUM		Deaths
Cause Of Death	Rnk	Deaths	Rnk	Deaths	Summary
Coronary Heart Disease	1	17,685	1	15,281	+ 2,404
Alzheimers & Dementia	2	10,059	2	9,416	+ 643
Lung Disease	3	6,844	5	6,438	+ 406
Stroke	4	5,552	3	7,408	- 1,855
Lung Cancers	5	5,448	4	6,777	- 1,329
Kidney Disease	6	3,007	8	2,952	+ 56
Drug Use	7	2,607	39	287	+ 2,320
Hypertension	8	2,310	27	740	+ 1,571
Colon-Rectum Cancers	9	2,166	7	3,329	- 1,163
Diabetes Mellitus	10	2,151	20	1,269	+ 882
Influenza and Pneumonia	11	2,113	6	5,677	- 3,565
Suicide	12	1,860	10	2,111	- 251
Breast Cancer	13	1,705	9	2,587	- 882
Endocrine Disorders	14	1,646	18	1,432	+ 214
Pancreas Cancer	15	1,551	14	1,809	- 258
Liver Disease	16	1,520	17	1,433	+ 87
Road Traffic Accidents	17	1,460	29	666	+ 794
Falls	18	1,416	15	1,756	- 340
Lymphomas	19	1,411	16	1,552	- 141
Prostate Cancer	20	1,247	13	1,824	- 577
Parkinson's Disease	21	1,208	19	1,378	- 169
Inflammatory/Heart	22	1,139	23	1,060	+ 79
Liver Cancer	23	948	24	976	- 28
Leukemia	24	944	21	1,199	- 255
Other Injuries	25	911	11	2,006	- 1,096
Bladder Cancer	26	687	22	1,078	- 391
Violence	27	665	44	149	+ 515
Oesophagus Cancer	28	624	25	898	- 274
Other Neoplasms	29	621	12	1,828	- 1,206
Alcohol	30	513	32	500	+ 14
Ovary Cancer	31	511	30	653	- 141
Skin Cancers	32	501	31	522	- 21
Stomach Cancer	33	458	26	863	- 405
Congenital Anomalies	34	412	40	282	+ 130
Oral Cancer	35	405	28	675	- 270
Uterin Cancer	36	352	34	384	- 32
Diarrhoeal diseases	37	349	33	418	- 69
Cervical Cancer	38	245	41	243	+ 2
Low Birth Weight	39	243	50	70	+ 173
Malnutrition	40	237	38	291	- 54
Hepatitis C	41	199	52	53	+ 146
HIV/AIDS	42	198	57	36	+ 162
Skin Disease	43	189	35	380	- 190
Multiple Sclerosis	44	177	45	147	+ 30
Drownings	45	143	47	79	+ 64
Asthma	46	134	46	128	+ 6
Rheumatic Heart Disease	47	128	37	293	- 165
Peptic Ulcer Disease	48	121	42	213	- 91
Fires	49	111	48	75	+ 37
Epilepsy	50	111	36	348	- 237
Anemia	51	109	43	199	- 90
Rheumatoid Arthritis	52	86	49	73	+ 14
Poisonings	53	59	55	41	+ 18
Birth Trauma	54	43	53	47	- 4
War	55	42	67	1	+ 41
Maternal Conditions	56	27	64	6	+ 21
Schizophrenia	57	25	56	40	- 14
Prostatic Hypertrophy	58	24	60	20	+ 4
Hepatitis B	59	21	63	17	+ 5
Meningitis	60	21	58	28	- 7
Osteoarthritis	61	20	51	59	- 38
Tuberculosis	62	19	54	46	- 26
Appendicitis	63	15	62	17	- 2
Oral conditions	64	10	61	19	- 9
Upper Respiratory	65	8	59	22	- 14
Syphilis	66	2	70	0	+ 2
Otitis Media	67	1	65	2	- 1
Encephalitis	68	1	66	1	- 0
Pertussis	69	1	68	1	- 0
Chagas disease	70	0	77	0	+ 0
Tetanus	71	0	78	0	+ 0
Schistosomiasis	72	0	76	0	+ 0
Iodine Deficiency	73	0	84	0	+ 0
Leprosy	74	0	72	0	+ 0
Diphtheria	75	0	69	0	- 0
Dengue	76	0	83	0	+ 0
Malaria	77	0	75	0	+ 0
Trypanosomiasis	78	0	74	0	- 0
Leishmaniasis	79	0	73	0	- 0
Measles	80	0	79	0	- 0
Hookworm Disease	81	0	80	0	- 0
Ascariasis	82	0	82	0	- 0
Trichuriasis	83	0	81	0	- 0
Chlamydia	84	0	71	0	- 0
Vitamin A Deficiency	85	0	86	0	- 0
Depression	86	0	85	0	- 0
TOTAL DEATHS

Note: Population is Equalized to BELGIUM

United States

Belgium

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.