According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), a total of 486,841 deaths were registered in the country in 2022, marking a sharp decline from 620,412 in 2021.

The deaths that occurred in previous years and in 2022 were registered at the Department of Home Affairs and processed by Stats SA.

“Deaths that occurred in 2022 show a reversal of the pattern seen in the last two years, with mortality declining by almost 21%.”

Natural causes continued to account for the overwhelming majority of deaths. Stats SA reported that just above 13.8% of all deaths registered in 2022 were due to external causes of morbidity and mortality, while the remaining 86.2% (419,887) were attributed to natural causes.

The leading underlying causes of death in 2022 were diabetes mellitus at 6.8% (32,863), hypertensive diseases at 6.4% (31,230), and cerebrovascular diseases at 5.9% (28,819).

Other major contributors were other forms of heart disease at 4.2% (20,375), HIV disease at 4.3% (20,784), tuberculosis at 4.2% (20,372), and influenza and pneumonia at 4.1% (19,705).

Rounding off the top ten were other viral diseases at 2.7% (13,139), ischemic heart disease at 2.7% (13,137), and chronic lower respiratory diseases at 2.4% (11,838).

Stats SA noted that “the most notable change is the absence of COVID-19 deaths on the top ten leading causes of death for both sexes in 2022.”

Non-natural causes remained a significant factor, particularly among younger age groups. Assault accounted for 3.1% (15,005) of all deaths, while “other external causes of accidental injury made up 77.2% of non-natural deaths” with 15,208 cases (3,1%).

Stats SA highlighted that among young people aged 15–29, almost half of all deaths (48.1%) were non-natural, with “as much as 59.9% of male deaths resulting from non-natural causes compared to 24.3% of females.”

Age and gender patterns revealed further disparities. The highest proportions of deaths were among those aged 65–69 at 8.6% (41,760), 60–64 at 8.4% (40,774), and 70–74 at 8.3% (40,340).

Infants under one year accounted for 4.7% (22,629) of all registered deaths. Stats SA found that “in 2022, this pattern continued, with males accounting for 53.5% of deaths and females 46.6%.”

Among those aged 70 years and above, there were more female than male deaths, said the agency. ”The gap in the proportion for male and female deaths was highest from 80 years and above, where female deaths surpassed male deaths by 3.9% at age group 80–84 years, by 4.0% age groups 85–89 years, and by 5.1% at ages 90 years and above,” said Stats SA. 

Stats SA also added that “in 2022, the gap widened, reaching a trend high of 6.9 percentage points.”

The median age at death was 53.7 years for men and 63.8 years for women, reflecting higher premature mortality among males.

Provincially, Gauteng recorded the highest number of deaths with 106,293, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 90,552 and the Eastern Cape with 77,160. The Western Cape reported 55,742 deaths, Limpopo 45,458, North West 32,553, Mpumalanga 31,850, and Free State 30,499. The Northern Cape had the lowest number of deaths at 15,121.

Stats SA also analysed mortality by race and marital status. The black African population accounted for 68.9% (335,049) of deaths, whites for 9,5% (46,204), coloureds for 7.6% (37,137), and Indians/Asians for 2.3% (10,938).

When compared to the size of the population, “the white population group had the highest death rate at 10,3 deaths per thousand population,” compared with 7,4 per thousand population for coloureds, 6,6 per thousand population for black Africans, and 6,4 per thousand population for Indians/Asians.

By marital status, the largest share of deaths was among those who had never married, 37.8% (183,796), followed by the married at 20.9% (101,485), widowed at 10.3% (49,983) and divorced at 2.2% (10,883).

Stats SA cautioned, however, that “28.8% (139,894) of death notification forms had missing data on marital status.”

Stats SA said South Africa continues to face a “dual burden of disease”, with both communicable illnesses such as TB and HIV and non-communicable conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, ranking among the leading causes of death.

“While deaths have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, the persistence of both communicable and non-communicable diseases poses an ongoing challenge to the health system.”

hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za

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