In Dubrovnik-Neretva County, 1,628 people died in 2021. Of these, 86.9 percent were people aged 65 or older. Data from the Public Health Institute of Dubrovnik-Neretva County show that the number of deaths that year was 19.4 percent higher, or 265 more people died than the year before.

Compared to data from the last twenty years ago, the number of deaths in 2021 is higher by as much as 37.6 percent. At the same time, it is necessary to bear in mind the decline in the number of inhabitants. According to the population censuses published by the State Bureau of Statistics, in 20 years the number of inhabitants fell by more than seven thousand, or by six percent.

In the first place in the causes of death in 2021 were diseases of the circulatory system (as much as 42.4 percent). Cancer and other neoplasms follow in second place with a share of 22.7 percent. Causes of death as a result of COVID-19 infection are in third place (12.8 percent). 209 people died as a result of COVID, which is 2.6 times the number of deaths than a year earlier. Endocrine diseases, nutritional and metabolic diseases are in fourth place (6.8 percent) followed by injuries, poisoning and other consequences of external causes in fifth place (4.1 percent), announced the Institute for Public Health.

In 2021, 66 violent deaths were recorded in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The largest number of violent deaths is related to the consequences of accidental falls (50 percent), while every fifth violent death is a suicide (19.7 percent).

Death rates due to traffic accidents have a downward trend, and are higher for the male sex, statistics show.