Settlements, Jerusalem boast lower mortality rates than rest of country

Death rates depend on the ages, socioeconomic and educational levels of the population, environmental dangers and even the religiosity of residents.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
A JERUSALEM CEMETERY. The capital region has the country’s lowest cancer mortality rate, according to data released by the Health Ministry. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A JERUSALEM CEMETERY. The capital region has the country’s lowest cancer mortality rate, according to data released by the Health Ministry.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
About 40,000 Israelis died in each of the years between 2009 and 2013, according to data released on Tuesday by the Health Ministry. The highest standardized rate of deaths occurred in the southern, Haifa and Tel Aviv districts, while the lowest rates were in Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and in the cities of Jerusalem, the Sharon, Petah Tikva and Rehovot.
In most of the districts, there were no significant differences in mortality rates from cancers compared to the national average. The lowest cancer mortality rate was in the Jerusalem region.
The highest rates of death from heart disease and complications of diabetes were in the northern and Haifa districts and the lowest in the southern districts compared to the national average.
The highest rates of infectious disease were in Tel Aviv and the south and the lowest rates in Jerusalem, Haifa and the north compared to national average.
As for deaths from pneumonia and other complications of the flu, the highest rates were in the north and south and the lowest rates in Haifa and the central district.
Kidney and urological diseases, the ministry report said, were most common in the Haifa district and lower in Tel Aviv and the Sharon district compared to the national average. There were no significant differences in death rates according to districts from gastroenterological diseases compared to national averages.
However, the highest death rates from accidents occurred in the Safed and Beersheba districts compared to the national average.
Death rates depend on the ages, socioeconomic and educational levels of the population, environmental dangers and even the religiosity of residents.
The Israel Death Atlas included statistics only until 2013, three years ago, because of delays in collecting data and publishing research. The data were obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics, which received coded information on causes of death diagnosed at hospitals and by rescue services.