There were 35,804 deaths in Ireland in 2022, which is equivalent to a rate of 6.9 deaths per 1,000 total population, unchanged from 2021. Ten years previous, the rate in 2012 stood at 6.4 per 1,000 of population. While the crude death rate for Ireland per 1,000 population in 2022 was 6.9, it was highest in Cork City at 10.1 per 1,000 population. See PxStat tables VSA09, VSA100, and Figure 2.1.
Rates for 2022 were calculated using usual residence census of population figures. See Technical Notes.
In 2022 the most frequent age at death for males was 84 years (3.5%), while for females it was 88 years (4.0%). Moreover, a total of 303 people died at the age of 100 years or over. See PxStat table VSA111 and Figure 2.2.
Given the differences in age structures across areas of Ireland, standardised death rates allow a comparison across local authorities. These age-standardised death rates account for differences in the age structures in each local authority. Firstly mortality rate of specific age groups is applied to those local authorities, and then adjustments are made to match the age structure of a standard population. In this case the standard population used is the total population of the State. For instance, Mayo had a crude death rate of 8.9 deaths per 1,000 of population, but its age-standardised death rate was 7.1 for 2022. See PxStat table VSA100 and Map 2.1.
For a European comparison of standardised death rates, see Eurostat.
In terms of where people died in 2022, there were 14,880 deaths (41.6%) which occurred in general and orthopaedic hospitals, 9,245 (25.8%) were domiciliary deaths, and 6,081 (17.0%) deaths occurred in nursing homes.
For those under 35, the most common category for place of death was domiciliary (253 out of 789 deaths), while general and orthopaedic hospitals were the most common location of deaths among those over 35 (14,661 out of 35,015 deaths). See Table 2.1.
A total of 35,804 deaths occurred in Ireland in 2022 (18,553 males and 17,251 females). At a very high level, just over two-thirds of deaths were due to Neoplasms (10,361), circulatory deaths (9,930) or respiratory deaths (3,874). See Table 2.2.
Of the 10,361 neoplasm deaths in 2022, 1,963 (19%) were due to cancers of the bronchus and lung. While for the 3,874 respiratory deaths in 2022, nearly 4 out of every 10 (39.9%) of these were due to Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (1,545 deaths). Figure 2.3 provides the most common single cause of death from each of the five largest cause of death groupings in 2022.
In total, 25 distinct causes of death accounted for 21,172 deaths - nearly 60% of total deaths in 2022. Chronic Ischaemic heart disease (7.8%), Cancers of the bronchus and lung (5.5%), Unspecified dementia (4.7%), Covid-19 (4.6%), and Acute myocardial infarction (4.5%) were the five most common causes of death in 2022. See PxStat table VSA29 and Figure 2.4.
Between 2012 and 2022, there has been a 109% increase in the number of dementia-related deaths. In 2022, dementia causes of death (code range F00-F03) collectively accounted for 5.5% of all deaths. See Figure 2.5.
| Dementia | |
| 2012 | 940 |
| 2013 | 1177 |
| 2014 | 1312 |
| 2015 | 1501 |
| 2016 | 1624 |
| 2017 | 1705 |
| 2018 | 1879 |
| 2019 | 1891 |
| 2020 | 1724 |
| 2021 | 1812 |
| 2022 | 1964 |
Of the 10,100 cancer (malignant neoplasm) deaths in 2022, more than half (51.1%) occurred in those aged 75 years and over, while only 1% occurred in those under 35 years. In general, deaths due to cancers were more common for those in older age cohorts, however certain conditions featured a higher proportion of younger age cohorts. For example, there was a total of 29 deaths due to bone and articular cartilage cancer in 2022, with 3 in every 10 of these deaths (31%) involving a person under 35 years. See PxStat table VSA29 and Table 2.3.
Deaths due to accidents, suicide and other external causes accounted for a further 1,670 or 4.7% of all deaths in 2022. Of these, 1,108 were male and 562 were females. There were 436 deaths from suicide in 2022, of which 346 were males and 90 were females. See PxStat tables VSA29, VSD30 and VSD32.
A death due to intentional self-harm is classified as an unnatural death and therefore, must be referred to the local Coroner for investigation. This investigation can take a protracted length of time to complete for various reasons – getting medical reports, health and safety reports, engineer’s reports or the involvement of the Director of Public Prosecutions – and this delays the registration of such deaths. Therefore, care should be taken when comparing external causes of death over time, given that deaths which occurred in 2022 can be still registered after publication of this annual report.
Prior to the 2022 Vital Statistics Annual Report, the CSO included a count and analysis of late registered deaths as an Appendix to the main publication. The CSO has now developed additional PxStat tables called Revised Deaths Occurring for those who are interested in late registered deaths. Both VSA35 and VSA112 provide the most up to date figures on all deaths, including external causes of death. Statistics on suicide deaths late-registered in 2022 for years of occurrence 2020 and earlier can be found in VSD34. See Background Notes for further information.
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