Deaths from circulatory system diseases and malignant tumors accounted for almost half of the deaths registered in Portugal in 2022 (48.9%), an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to 2021, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) announced today. In 2022, 124,942 people died in the country, 0.2% less than in 2021 (125,233). Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) were the cause of the highest number of deaths in 2022, with 9,616 deaths of residents from stroke, which represented 7.7% of the total, according to the INE. "The mortality rate from cerebrovascular diseases was 92.1 deaths of residents per 100,000 inhabitants, higher than in 2021 (92.2)", the Institute highlighted. Women continued to be the ones who, "fatally", were most affected by stroke, with a ratio of 75.8 deaths of men for every 100 deaths of women. Even though it decreased compared to the previous year (77.8), this indicator "reflects the relative worsening of the female condition", according to the INE. "In the set of deaths from malignant tumors, 4,410 deaths of residents caused by tumors of the trachea, bronchi and lung stood out, which represented 3.5% of the total deaths of residents and increased by 0.5% compared to the previous year", can be read in the document released today. According to the INE, these tumors continued to affect men and women "in a very different way", with gross mortality rates of 64.5 deaths per 100,000 men and 21.9 deaths per 100,000 women, which result "in a ratio of 268.7 deaths of men per 100 of women". In 2022, respiratory diseases which, according to the World Health Organization's standards, do not include covid-19, caused 12,114 deaths of residents, 18.1% more than in the previous year, "with a substantial impact on the total number of deaths of residents (plus 1.5 percentage points)". From 8.2% in 2021, it increased to 9.7% in 2022. Simultaneously, there was an increase in the mortality rate from 98.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 116.0 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2022. "Almost 40% of the increase in deaths caused by respiratory diseases was associated with the increase in deaths from pneumonia, with 4,488 deaths in 2022, which represented 3.6% of the mortality that occurred in 2022 (3.0% in 2021), and an increase of 19.5% in deaths compared to the previous year", concludes the INE. Covid-19 was responsible for the second highest number of deaths (7,769 deaths), representing 6.2% of mortality in 2022, despite the decrease of almost 40% in the total number of deaths caused by this disease. "The decrease in the number of deaths compared to the previous year was reflected in a substantial reduction in the mortality rate, from 124.5 deaths per 100,000 residents in Portugal in 2021 to 74.4 in 2022, remaining higher in the case of men (81.6) than women (67.8)", according to the data released. Read Also: Leiria with constraints in the Emergency service until Monday (Portuguese version)