A recent report shows 67,606 people died in Switzerland in 2015, 6% more than in the previous year. Two the big drivers of the rise were a flu epidemic over spring and a heatwave in July of that year.
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In 2015, an extra 4,000 people died compared to in 2014. Most of these extra deaths were caused by a flu epidemic (+2,500) and a heatwave (+500). The remainder can be explained by an aging population (+500) and a number of other things (+500).
Because of the way life expectancy is calculated, death figures for 2015 reduced Swiss life expectancy for the first time since 1990 to 80.7 years for men and 84.9 for women.
Fortunately, 2016 was a better year. The number dying fell to 64,964 (-4%) and life expectancy surpassed that of 2014.
The biggest killers depend on age. Accidents and suicide are the biggest causes of death for those 15 to 40, cancer for those 40 to 80, and cardiovascular disease for those over 80.
In 2015, 2,649 died from accidents and 1,066 from suicide. Cancer took the lives of 17,039, and cardiovascular disease 21,204.
In 2015, those 85 or over had a 16.4% chance of dying, those 65-84 had a 2.7% chance of dying, those 45-64 had a 0.4% chance of dying and those under 45 a less than 0.1% chance.
More on this:
Swiss government report – (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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