Ireland has third highest mortality rate in EU

Ireland has the third highest mortality rate from diseases of the respiratory system in the EU and lung cancer accounts for more than one third of such deaths.

Figures compiled by Eurostat show only near neighbours the UK, as well as Denmark, have higher rates. In the UK, deaths from respiratory disease accounted for more than one in five of all causes of death (20.3%) in 2012, while in Denmark the figure was 18.4% and in Ireland, 18.2%. Conversely, respiratory disease death rates in the Balkan States and Bulgaria were among the lowest in the EU, accounting for less than 8% of all causes of deaths — Latvia (5.8%), Lithuania (6.4%), Estonia (7.4%) and 7% in Bulgaria.

Lung cancer is the top respiratory killer disease in almost every EU country, with the exception of Portugal where pneumonia claims more lives (38.6% compared to lung cancer at 20.9%) and Greece. In Ireland, lung cancer accounts for 34% of total deaths from respiratory disease.