Leading causes of death by sex

For death and disability disaggregated by sex, annual global deaths and DALYs among women were around 15% lower than for men. However, women collectively spent about 20% more years living with disability (YLDs).

In the past two decades, the greatest increase in female deaths has been from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, with nearly a threefold increase. These neurological disorders kill more females than males, with about 80% more deaths and 70% more DALYs for women than for men.

Additionally, much of this century’s progress on HIV/AIDS has been due to a 55% decline in deaths from this disease among women since 2000. And the gender gap is widening. In 2000, HIV/AIDS killed 38 000 fewer women than men. In 2019, it killed 90 000 fewer.

In comparison, men were disproportionately impacted, in terms of absolute number of deaths, by preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, alcohol use disorder and road injuries. However, while there was a larger increase in road traffic injuries among men, there was a larger percentage increase in lung cancer deaths among women (67%) than men (40%) between 2000 and 2019.