In 2024, heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the Czech Republic, followed by heart failure and strokes, with suicides rising sharply.
In 2024, a total of 112,211 people died in the Czech Republic. As in previous years, cardiovascular diseases remained by far the most common cause of death – led by coronary heart disease, followed by heart failure and strokes. This is according to the latest figures released today by the Czech Statistical Office.
The five leading causes of death remained unchanged compared with the previous year. Coronary heart disease once again ranked first, accounting for 14,000 deaths (12.5 per cent), followed by heart failure with 7,300 deaths (6.5 per cent) and strokes with 5,900 deaths (5.3 per cent). In fourth place were malignant tumours of the trachea, bronchi and lungs (4.4 per cent), on par with diabetes.
Differences emerged between men and women from the third position onwards. Among women, strokes were the third most common cause of death (3,300 cases), followed by cancers of the reproductive organs and breast (3,100 cases) and hypertension (3,000 cases). Among men, lung cancer ranked third (3,000 cases), ahead of strokes (2,600 cases) and diabetes (2,300 cases).
A sharp rise was recorded in suicides. In 2024, 1,561 people took their own lives – representing 1.4 per cent of all deaths and an increase of one quarter compared to the previous year. “For every woman, there are still more than four men who commit suicide. Men in their forties and fifties are particularly affected,” said Markéta Šafusová of the Czech Statistical Office.
There were also shifts in infectious diseases. The number of deaths caused by influenza rose by almost half to 363 cases (0.3 per cent of all deaths). By contrast, the number of Covid-19-related deaths dropped sharply – by more than half – to 748 (0.7 per cent).
