Capetonians live longer than Tshwane residents – stats

Cape Town residents have a longer life span than Tshwane residents, Statistics SA (StatsSA) says. Men in Cape Town lived on average to 54, while their Tshwane counterparts lived to 52. Capetonian women lived up to 64, while in Tshwane the age for women was 56.

The figures for the two metropolitan areas were based on StatsSA's report for mortality and causes of death for 2011. They were released by Statistician General Pali Lehohla in Tshwane.

While it seemed that Capetonians live longer than those on the Highveld, the report revealed that 26,466 fatalities were reported in the Western Cape capital city in 2011.

Gauteng's capital showed a lower figure at 19,547.

In the leading causes of natural deaths, tuberculosis (TB) led the statistics in both areas, with 8.2%  in Tshwane and 6.6%  in Cape Town.

Deaths caused by diseases stemming from HIV were much higher in Cape Town, at 5.7%. In Tshwane it was 2.6%.

Chronic lower respiratory diseases, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia were also high on the list of causes of natural death.

Mortality was, however, dropping nationally, with a total of 505,803 deaths registered in the country in 2011, said Lehohla.

"The number of deaths between 2010 and 2011 decreased by 7.7%, while during 2009-2010 and 2008-2009, the number of deaths decreased by 5.6%  and 2.6%  respectively," he said.

Lehohla said KwaZulu-Natal accounted for most fatalities, at 21%, while Gauteng claimed 20% of the deaths, and the Eastern Cape came in third at 14%. Sapa