Deaths, causes, and their frequency among Saudi citizens: A descriptive analysis of data from the 2017 Population Characteristics Survey

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The number of deaths, causes, and frequency measures are crucial in determining the health of a country’s population. OBJECTIVE: The current study aimed to estimate deaths, causes of death, and their frequency for Saudi nationals in 2017. METHODS: In this descriptive study, we used data from the 2017 Population Characteristics Survey (n = 14,215,901) and performed secondary data analysis between November 2021 and February 2022. We used a total number of survey samples to compute the deaths. The cause of death was determined by dividing the total number of fatalities according to sex. We calculated the overall population-, administrative region-, and gender-wise percentages, rates per 1,000 people per year, the ratios for mortality, and their reasons. RESULTS: There were 58,915 (0.4%) total deaths, including 0.3% and 0.2% deaths among females and males, respectively. The illness was the most frequent cause of mortality (46.5% or 465 per 1,000 population/year), notably in women (52.5% or 525 per 1,000 population/year). The fatality rate was higher due to traffic accidents (a total of five in every female and four males in every female). CONCLUSION: In 2017, illness—especially in women—was the cause of death. Road car accidents had a high mortality rate, especially among males. Saudi Arabia has lower death rates than other Arab nations and high-, moderate-, and low-income nations.