Metadata: Causes of death

Statbel, processed by Statistics Flanders

Mortality according to cause of death:

The causes of death are coded and grouped according to international agreements (ICD10)(opens in new window).

NATURAL DEATHS (A00-R99)

• Infectious diseases and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)
• Cancer and other neoplasms (C00-D48)
• Endocrine diseases and nutritional and metabolic disorders (E00-E90)
• Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-F99)
• Diseases of the nervous system (G00-G99)
• Cardiovascular diseases (I00-I99)
• Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)
• Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93)
• Diseases of the urogenital system (N00-N99)
• Other natural causes (D50-D89, H, M, L, O00-R99)
• COVID-19 (U071-U072)

UNNATURAL DEATHS (V01-Y98)

The statistics for mortality are based on death certificates (Model IIIC and Model IIID) which are filled in by a certifying doctor for each death in Belgium and then completed by the municipal authorities of the place of decease. These forms are forwarded to the Regions, which check, code and enter the information to produce their own statistics. The databases are then forwarded to Statbel, which merges them to compile statistics at the federal level. For this purpose, Statbel links the forms to the deaths recorded in the National Register. This way, the available information can be checked and completed while the deaths in Belgium of persons not legally resident in the country can be excluded. Deaths of persons legally resident in Belgium which occur abroad are assigned the code R99 as a cause of death. Linking the forms to the National Register has only been in place since 2010. This implies that deaths abroad of persons resident in Belgium were not previously included in the federal statistics.

Since 1998, the coding of causes of death has been implemented in accordance with the 10^th revision of the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). All the tables of the statistics break down the deaths into various groups of causes, including a breakdown according to gender and 5-year age categories.

A division of Sciensano developed a platform (Standardized Procedures for Mortality Analysis or SPMA(opens in new window)) to facilitate the analysis of statistics on mortality and causes of death.

Statbel: Causes of death(opens in new window)

Causes of death