South Africa buried more men than women in 2020

According to Stats SA, prior to 2006, the proportion of deaths of men persistently decreased while that of women increased.

The reverse was, however, observed from 2006 to 2016 for both sexes. The percentage of deaths of men declined consistently from a high of 54.2% in 1999 to a low of 50.4% in 2005.

Stats SA released its report on mortality and causes of death information from the South African civil registration system on Tuesday.

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All death notification forms were from Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for deaths that occurred in 2020, comparing them to those that occurred years prior.

The information on causes of death is as recorded on death notification forms completed by medical practitioners and other certifying officials.

More men deceased

According to Stats SA, although the percentage of the deaths of men consistently decreased during those years, compared to the percentage of women deaths, the country still buried more men.

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Between 2016 and 2018, the percentage distribution of deaths remained the same between the two sexes, with men accounting for 52.8% of deaths and women for 47.2%.

From 2019, a change in pattern was observed as deaths of men decreased to 52.7% in 2019 and further to 51.1% in 2020, and women deaths increased to 47.3% and 48.9% for those years.

The deaths of men peaked at the age group of 60–64 with 9.6%, followed by age group 65–69 (9.5%) and age group 55–59 (8.5%).

The highest proportions for women were observed at age groups 65–69 and 70– 74 with 9.1%, followed by age group 60–64 accounting for 8.7% of total deaths of women.

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Overall, from age 70 and older, there were more deaths of women than men. The gap in the proportion of genders was, however, highest in the age group 90 and older, followed by age group 85–89.

While there were more deaths of women than men from age 70 and older, it was different for infants, where the percentage of boy deaths marginally exceeded the percentage of girl deaths (4.3% for boys and 3.8% for girls).

Province level

At province level, North West (6.2%) had the highest proportion of infant deaths, while Limpopo (3.1%) had the highest percentage of deaths among children 1–14 years.

Deaths in Mpumalanga (26.3%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (25.0%) had the highest percentage in the 15–44 age category.

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Northern Cape had the highest proportion of deaths occurring in the 45–64 age group (32.7%), with the least percentage of deaths under this age group observed in Limpopo at 26.0%.

Western Cape had the highest percentage of deaths of people in the ages of 65 and older (44.1%)], followed by Eastern Cape (43.4%) and Limpopo (43.3%).