This statistical release presents information on mortality and causes of death in South Africa for deaths that occurred in 2014 based on all death notification forms from the civil registration system maintained by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Specifically, the release provides an analysis of registered deaths by selected socio-demographic characteristics and provides statistics on the causes of death for deaths that occurred in 2014, focusing on the underlying cause of death. The overall number of deaths is also provided by year of death for the period 1997 to 2013 (updated for late registrations) as well as underlying causes of death for selected years to show levels and trends of registered deaths. In terms of registration timeliness, in 2014, the majority of the deaths (78,4%) were registered within the three days stipulated by the legislative framework.

There were 453 360 deaths registered at the Department of Home Affairs and processed by Stats SA in 2014, compared with 473 384 in 2013, a decline of 3,2%. Registered deaths continue to decline in the country as observed from 2007 in the data processed by Stats SA. The number of registered deaths processed by Stats SA increased continuously for each year from 1997 to 2006, but since 2007, the numbers have declined gradually.

The results showed that for total deaths, the age group with the highest proportion of deaths was age group 60–64 years (7,4%) closely followed by age group 35–39 years accounting for 7,0% of all deaths. The lowest percentages of deaths were observed in age groups 5–9 years and 10–14 years, each representing 0,7% of all deaths in 2014. Median ages at death showed that mortality now occurs later in life, which is an indication of declining premature mortality. The median ages at death for total deaths increased from 42,8 years in 2005 to 53,9 years in 2014, reflecting improvement in mortality. In 2014, the median age at death for females was 58,1 years and 51,4 years for males. Further age and sex differentials show that the highest percentage of male deaths occurred amongst those aged 60–64 years whereas female deaths peaked at age group 80–84 years. In general, there were relatively more male deaths from age zero up to age group 65–69 years with female deaths exceeding male deaths at older age groups (70 years and above). In 2014, the overall sex ratio at death was 110 male deaths per 100 female deaths.

For province of death occurrence, the highest proportion of deaths (21,3%) occurred in Gauteng province, followed by KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape each comprising 17,0% and 14,8%, respectively. These provinces also have the largest population sizes in the country.

In 2014, the majority of deaths resulted from the main group of certain infectious and parasitic diseases (21,8%), followed by diseases of the circulatory system (17,3%). This pattern was also observed in 2013. In general, over the years 2010 to 2014 the gap between communicable and non-communicable diseases widened with more deaths as a result of non-communicable diseases. The total number of deaths in 2014 comprised 36,8% communicable diseases, 52,7% non-communicable diseases and 10,5% injuries (non-natural deaths).

The first three leading causes of natural deaths in 2014 were tuberculosis, cerebrovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. Tuberculosis maintained its rank as the number one leading cause of death in South Africa with 8,4% deaths, although deaths due to tuberculosis decreased annually in the recent years. Cerebrovascular diseases were ranked fourth in 2013 and moved two positions up in 2014 while diabetes mellitus moved from fifth rank in 2013 to third in 2014. Influenza and pneumonia moved to positions down from second rank in 2013 to fourth rank in 2014 and also HIV diseases moved two ranks down to fifth position from third in 2013. The proportion of deaths due to HIV diseases and influenza and pneumonia in 2014 was 4,8% and 4,9% respectively.

With regard to sex differentials, tuberculosis (9,5%) and influenza and pneumonia (4,7%) were both ranked first and second respectively amongst the ten leading causes of death for males while for females tuberculosis (7,1%) was the leading underlying cause of death followed by diabetes mellitus (6,4%). The third leading underlying cause of death for females was cerebrovascular diseases (6,1%), while for males, HIV diseases (4,7%) was ranked third. Since 1997, it was the first time malignant neoplasm of female genital organs was amongst the top ten leading causes of death for females and was ranked tenth responsible for 2,5% female deaths. It was also for the first time that cerebrovascular diseases was the second leading underlying cause of death.