Health status indicators > Major causes of death

The major causes of death are presented here according to rank, for each ethnicity and gender. Causes of death have been ranked in two different ways: first simply by number of deaths and then by years of life lost (YLL). Growing old is a natural biological process, and death, being inevitable, reflects population health status only to a limited extent. Therefore, YLL has been used to provide a measure of the social burden of premature mortality across the life span, including deaths in old age.

Table 13: Major causes of death, 2000–2002, ranked by number of deaths

How to interpret results - tables

	Males	Females
Māori	Ischaemic heart disease Lung cancer Diabetes Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Other heart disease	Ischaemic heart disease Lung cancer Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Cerebrovascular disease Diabetes
non-Māori	Ischaemic heart disease Cerebrovascular disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Lung cancer Colorectal cancer	Ischaemic heart disease Cerebrovascular disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Other heart disease Breast cancer

Note: Ever-Māori ethnic group - see Methods and Data Sources section for further information
Source: New Zealand Health Information Service

The major causes of death were all chronic diseases. Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of death for both Māori and non-Māori. Lung cancer was the second leading cause of death for Māori. Diabetes featured in the top five causes for both Māori males and Māori females, but did not feature in the top five for non-Māori of either gender.

Using the ‘remaining life expectancy’ method, YLL is defined as the gap between the age at death and the life expectancy remaining at that age (YLLe). All years of life are valued equally, and life expectancy does not decline to zero at any age. However, to reflect society’s preference for present benefits, health losses that occur in the future have been discounted (3 percent discount rate) relative to those that occur in the past. Model life table West level 26 (female), selected for the monitoring of YLLe in New Zealand, provides a life expectancy at birth of 82.5 years. The same standard is used for all, regardless of gender and ethnicity, in order to enhance comparability, and because using different age standards on the basis of gender and ethnicity would be incompatible with the values of most New Zealanders (Ministry of Health 1999).

Table 14: Major causes of death, 2000–2002, ranked by years of life lost YLL

How to interpret results - tables

	Males	Females
Māori	Ischaemic heart disease Motor vehicle injury Suicide Lung cancer Diabetes	Ischaemic heart disease Lung cancer Breast cancer Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Cerebrovascular disease
non-Māori	Ischaemic heart disease Cerebrovascular disease Lung cancer Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Suicide	Ischaemic heart disease Cerebrovascular disease Breast cancer Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Colorectal cancer

Note: Ever-Māori ethnic group - see Methods and Data Sources section for further information
Source: New Zealand Health Information Service

The major causes of premature death were still dominated by chronic diseases (ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause for all groups).

For Māori males, motor vehicle injury was the second leading cause of premature death, and suicide the third ranked. Suicide is also a major cause of premature death for non-Māori males.

Breast cancer was the third leading cause of premature death for both Māori and non-Māori females.