(24 May 2016) – In the European Union, 1.7 million persons aged less than 75 died in 2013. Among them, around 577 500 deaths (or 33.7% of total deaths) could be considered as premature, as they could have been avoided in the light of medical knowledge and technology.
The highest shares of avoidable deaths were registered in Romania (49.4%) and Latvia (48.5%), followed by Lithuania (45.4%) and Slovakia (44.6%).
On the other hand, the share was below 30% in France (23.8%), ahead of Denmark (27.1%), Belgium (27.5%) and the Netherlands (29.1%).
In the EU in 2013, heart attacks (184 800 avoidable deaths or 32% of total avoidable deaths of persons aged less than 75) accounted by far for the largest share of potentially avoidable deaths. They were followed by strokes (93 900, or 16%), colorectal cancers (67 000 or 12%), breast cancers (50 800 or 9%), hypertensive diseases (28 700 or 5%) and pneumonia (24 100 or 4%).