Lower rate for lung cancer

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 12

Lower rate for lung cancer

PA Wellington New Zealand has a considerably. lower death rate from lung cancer than Britain does, according to the latest health statistics. World Health Organisation figures put Scotland’s lung cancer rate of 71 deaths per 100,000 population at the head of the table. It is followed by 58 per 100,000 in England and Wales. The National Health Statistics Centre in Wellington puts New Zealand’s lung cancer rate in 1984 at 39.3 per 100,000. New Zealand’s record is not as good for the death rate from all forms of heart disease. New Zealand’s death rate is 258 per 100,000 compared with 290 in Czechoslovakia, 282 in the Irish Repubiic.i 264 in Finland, and 243 in England and Wales. \ ■ Japan’s rate of 45 per 100,000 is the lowest.

Chileans are the greatest victims of alcoholism with 50 deaths from cirrhosis of the liver per 100,000. Iceland with only One death per 100,000 has the lowest rate. In 1984, there were four deaths per 100,000 in New Zealand, one of the lowest death rates on the table. Kuwait has the worst death rate from road accidents. With 41 deaths per 100,000, Kuwait tops the table ahead of Venezuela with 36, Mexico with 29 and Portugal with 26. The lowest record with two deaths per 100,000 is Malta and Mauritius. The driving habits of New Zealanders does not compare well with this figure, with a death rate from road accidents of 21.8 per 100,000. Uruguay, Sweden, England and Wales all recorded nine deaths per 100,000.