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Low- and middle-income countries
High-income countries
Cause Deaths Cause Deaths
(millions)
(millions)
1 Ischaemic heart disease 5.70 11.8% 1 Ischaemic heart disease 1.36 17.3%
2 Cerebrovascular disease 4.61 9.5% 2 Cerebrovascular disease 0.78 9.9%
3 Lower respiratory infections 3.41 7.0% 3 Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers 0.46 5.8%
4 HIV/AIDS 2.55 5.3% 4 Lower respiratory infections 0.34 4.4%
5 Perinatal conditions 2.49 5.1% 5 Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease 0.30 3.8%
6 Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease 2.38 4.9% 6 Colon and rectum cancers 0.26 3.3%
7 Diarrhoeal diseases 1.78 3.7% 7 Alzheimer and other dementias 0.21 2.6%
8 Tuberculosis 1.59 3.3% 8 Diabetes mellitus 0.20 2.6%
9 Malaria 1.21 2.5% 9 Breast cancer 0.16 2.0%
10 Road traffic accidents 1.07 2.2% 10 Stomach cancer 0.15 1.9%
Table 2: The ten leading causes of death, by broad income group, 2001
responsible for 21 to 36% of deaths. Such a shift in the
cause of death pattern has not occurred in sub-Saharan
Africa, where perinatal conditions rank in fourth place and
malaria, lower respiratory infections, and diarrhoeal diseases
continue to be the leading causes of death in children,
accounting for 53% of all deaths.
About 90% of all HIV/AIDS and malaria deaths in children
in developing countries occur in sub-Saharan Africa, which
accounts for 23% of the world’s births and 42% of the world’s
child deaths. The immense surge of HIV/AIDS mortality in
children in recent years means that HIV/AIDS is now
responsible for 332 000 child deaths annually in sub-Saharan
Africa and nearly 8% of all child deaths in the region.
Some progress has been made against diarrhoeal diseases
and measles. While the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases is
thought to have remained stable, mortality from diarrhoeal
diseases has fallen from 2.5 million deaths in 1990 to about
1.6 million deaths in 2001, and now accounts for 13% of all
deaths of children under age 15. Deaths from measles have
declined modestly, although more than 0.5 million children
under five still died from this disease in 2001. Malaria causes
more than a million child deaths per year or nearly 11% of all
deaths of children under five.
Leading causes of death in adults
Table 5 shows the leading causes of deaths among adults age
15 to 59 worldwide in 2001. Despite a global trend of
declining communicable disease burden in adults, HIV/AIDS
has become the leading cause of mortality and the single
most important contributor to the burden of disease among
adults in this age group.
Nearly 80% of the 2.1 million adult deaths from HIV/AIDS
in 2001 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. In this region,
HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death, resulting in more than
6000 deaths every day and accounting for almost 1 in 5
deaths for all ages and 1 in 2 deaths of adults age 15 to 59.
HIV/AIDS has reversed mortality trends among adults in the
region, and in many countries, life expectancies have
declined since 1990.
The 4.5 million adult injury deaths in 2001 were heavily
concentrated among young adults, particularly men. In the
15 to 59 age group, road traffic accidents and suicide were
among the 10 leading causes of death in high-income and
low- and middle-income countries, and violence (homicide)
was also among the 10 leading causes in low- and middleincome
countries. Among adults age 15 to 44 worldwide,
road traffic accidents were the leading cause of death for men
after HIV/AIDS, followed by TB and violence. Suicide was the
third leading cause of death for women in this age group,
after HIV/AIDS and TB, with road traffic accidents in fifth
place.
The risk of death rises rapidly with age among adults aged
Males
Females
Cause Deaths Cause Deaths
(millions)
(millions)
1 Ischaemic heart disease 3.01 11.8% 1 Ischaemic heart disease 2.69 11.8%
2 Cerebrovascular disease 2.17 8.5% 2 Cerebrovascular disease 2.44 10.7%
3 Lower respiratory infections 1.72 6.7% 3 Lower respiratory infections 1.68 7.4%
4 Perinatal conditions 1.38 5.4% 4 HIV/AIDS 1.18 5.2%
5 HIV/AIDS 1.38 5.4% 5 Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease 1.17 5.1%
6 Chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease 1.21 4.7% 6 Perinatal conditions 1.11 4.9%
7 Tuberculosis 1.04 4.1% 7 Diarrhoeal diseases 0.85 3.7%
8 Diarrhoeal diseases 0.93 3.6% 8 Malaria 0.63 2.8%
9 Road traffic accidents 0.78 3.1% 9 Tuberculosis 0.55 2.4%
10 Malaria 0.58 2.3% 10 Diabetes mellitus 0.42 1.8%
Table 3: The 10 leading causes of death, by sex, low- and middle-income countries, 2001
Global Forum Update on Research for Health Volume 4 ✜ 169