The total number of deaths that occurred in South Africa and were processed by Stats SA in 2018, were 454 014.

According to Mortality and causes of death in South Africa: Findings from death notification for 2018 which was released recently by Statistics South Africa, the highest number of deaths that occurred in 2018 were among those aged 65–69 years (8,4%), while the lowest number was observed among those aged 5–9 and 10–14 years (0,6% and 0,8%, respectively).

The data contained in this report does not include deaths due to COVID-19 as these will be published after the 2020 processing cycle.
The top ten leading underlying natural causes of death in 2018 were: tuberculosis; diabetes mellitus; cerebrovascular diseases; other forms of heart disease; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease; hypertensive diseases; influenza and pneumonia; Ischaemic heart diseases; chronic lower respiratory diseases; and malignant neoplasms of digestive organs. Tuberculosis (TB) remained the main leading cause of death in the three-year period (2016–2018), although the proportion of deaths due to TB declined in the three-year period from 6,5% in 2016 to 6,0% in 2018. Diabetes mellitus remained the second leading underlying cause of death in the three-year period, although the proportions of death due to diabetes mellitus increased consistently over the three years. The top ten underlying natural causes of death represented nearly 44% of all deaths in 2018.

According to Mortality and causes of death in South Africa: Findings from death notification for 2018 which was released recently by Statistics South Africa, the highest number of deaths that occurred in 2018 were among those aged 65–69 years (8,4%), while the lowest number was observed among those aged 5–9 and 10–14 years (0,6% and 0,8%, respectively).

The data contained in this report does not include deaths due to COVID-19 as these will be published after the 2020 processing cycle.
The top ten leading underlying natural causes of death in 2018 were: tuberculosis; diabetes mellitus; cerebrovascular diseases; other forms of heart disease; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease; hypertensive diseases; influenza and pneumonia; Ischaemic heart diseases; chronic lower respiratory diseases; and malignant neoplasms of digestive organs. Tuberculosis (TB) remained the main leading cause of death in the three-year period (2016–2018), although the proportion of deaths due to TB declined in the three-year period from 6,5% in 2016 to 6,0% in 2018. Diabetes mellitus remained the second leading underlying cause of death in the three-year period, although the proportions of death due to diabetes mellitus increased consistently over the three years. The top ten underlying natural causes of death represented nearly 44% of all deaths in 2018.

and malignant neoplasms of digestive organs were in the leading underlying causes of death only for the white population group.

Causes of death: How the provinces differ

KwaZulu-Natal (13,5%) and Western Cape (13,0%) had the highest proportion of deaths due to non-natural causes, while the lowest percentage of deaths due to non-natural causes were observed in Limpopo (8,9%). Deaths due to other external causes of accidental injury accounted for more than 50% of non-natural deaths in all the provinces, with the exception of Northern Cape where it was 40,2%. Transport accidents were the second most common cause of non-natural deaths in Limpopo, Northern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga, with Limpopo having the highest number of deaths due to this cause, responsible for 30,1% of deaths. Assault was the second most common non-natural cause of death in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal with the highest being in Eastern Cape, responsible for 22,7% of deaths in the province.

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