Countries by Cause of death, by non-communicable diseases (% of total)

North Macedonia ranks first globally, with non-communicable diseases accounting for 96.1% of all deaths in 2019. At the other end, Chad records just 27.0%, the lowest share among 183 countries. The 69-percentage-point gap broadly separates countries where infectious and injury-related deaths remain prevalent from those where they have been largely displaced by chronic disease.

Population & Health category

Ranking 2019

Values shown in %.

Countries by Cause of death, by non-communicable diseases (% of total)
Rank	Country	%
1	North Macedonia	96.13
2	Bulgaria	95.31
3	Serbia	94.92
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	94.42
5	Montenegro	94.11
6	Albania	93.94
7	Hungary	93.89
8	Georgia	93.35
9	Finland	92.93
10	Belarus	92.68
11	Estonia	92.19
12	Latvia	91.99
13	Ukraine	91.86
14	Croatia	91.54
15	Lithuania	91.15
16	Romania	91.04
17	Austria	90.98
18	Spain	90.77
19	Italy	90.64
20	Germany	90.60
21	Ireland	90.41
22	Azerbaijan	90.25
23	Türkiye	90.17
24	Slovenia	89.99
25	Poland	89.91
26	Cyprus	89.86
27	Canada	89.81
28	Malta	89.75
29	Denmark	89.66
30	China	89.63
31	New Zealand	89.60
32	Switzerland	89.55
33	Moldova	89.48
34	Iceland	89.47
35	Czechia	89.40
36	Russia	89.31
37	Australia	89.11
38	Sweden	89.05
39	Armenia	88.63
40	Slovakia	88.61
41	Luxembourg	88.60
42	Lebanon	88.55
43	Mauritius	88.38
44	Netherlands	88.23
45	United Kingdom	88.16
46	United States	88.14
47	France	87.28
48	Norway	86.72
49	Portugal	86.69
50	Kazakhstan	86.68
51	Bahrain	86.10
52	Belgium	85.98
53	Tunisia	85.94
54	Egypt	85.61
55	Uruguay	85.51
56	Israel	85.45
57	Uzbekistan	85.18
58	Maldives	85.18
59	Chile	85.13
60	Antigua and Barbuda	84.79
61	Japan	84.79
62	Fiji	84.71
63	Brunei	84.67
64	Morocco	84.19
65	Cuba	83.31
66	Greece	83.24
67	Grenada	82.80
68	Barbados	82.79
69	Mongolia	82.72
70	Trinidad and Tobago	82.66
71	Sri Lanka	82.52
72	Saint Lucia	82.10
73	Costa Rica	81.99
74	Samoa	81.75
75	Nicaragua	81.64
76	Kyrgyzstan	81.59
77	Vietnam	81.37
78	Iran	81.31
79	Mexico	80.41
80	North Korea	80.40
81	Oman	79.79
82	Jordan	79.61
83	Micronesia	79.48
84	Tonga	79.40
85	Kuwait	79.37
86	Algeria	79.36
87	Jamaica	79.30
88	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	79.10
89	Seychelles	78.98
90	Suriname	78.61
91	South Korea	77.91
92	Panama	77.86
93	United Arab Emirates	77.10
94	Qatar	76.89
95	Argentina	76.69
96	Thailand	76.58
97	Indonesia	76.33
98	Ecuador	76.20
99	Colombia	75.65
100	Bahamas	75.43
101	Syria	75.21
102	Libya	75.05
103	Singapore	75.02
104	Paraguay	74.94
105	Brazil	74.74
106	Vanuatu	73.93
107	Malaysia	73.44
108	Saudi Arabia	73.41
109	Tajikistan	73.19
110	Kiribati	72.81
111	Bhutan	72.74
112	Bolivia	72.68
113	Peru	72.59
114	Turkmenistan	72.30
115	Dominican Republic	71.93
116	Honduras	71.43
117	Myanmar	71.14
118	Bangladesh	70.26
119	Cabo Verde	70.12
120	Philippines	69.75
121	Guyana	69.65
122	Cambodia	67.72
123	Iraq	66.89
124	Solomon Islands	66.83
125	Nepal	66.46
126	India	65.93
127	Laos	65.34
128	Belize	65.22
129	El Salvador	65.11
130	Venezuela	65.06
131	Haiti	64.72
132	Papua New Guinea	62.35
133	Guatemala	61.57
134	Pakistan	59.86
135	Sao Tome and Principe	57.63
136	Sudan	53.95
137	Timor-Leste	53.08
138	Djibouti	51.77
139	South Africa	51.33
140	Rwanda	50.39
141	Yemen	50.36
142	Afghanistan	49.78
143	Eritrea	49.48
144	Eswatini	45.86
145	Botswana	45.71
146	Ghana	45.39
147	Lesotho	45.08
148	Madagascar	45.03
149	Gabon	45.01
150	Senegal	44.91
151	Comoros	44.68
152	Ethiopia	43.26
153	Namibia	43.04
154	Togo	41.12
155	Kenya	40.86
156	Malawi	40.19
157	Zimbabwe	39.26
158	Benin	38.98
159	Republic of Congo	38.57
160	Cameroon	37.73
161	Gambia	37.10
162	Mauritania	37.06
163	Burundi	36.76
164	Mozambique	36.16
165	Côte d'Ivoire	35.66
166	Uganda	35.58
167	Zambia	34.79
168	Burkina Faso	34.77
169	Tanzania	34.38
170	DR Congo	34.13
171	Sierra Leone	34.07
172	Guinea	33.27
173	Guinea-Bissau	33.17
174	Equatorial Guinea	32.78
175	Central African Republic	31.92
176	Angola	31.75
177	Liberia	31.66
178	Niger	30.35
179	Mali	30.32
180	Somalia	29.88
181	South Sudan	27.94
182	Nigeria	27.13
183	Chad	26.99

Analysis

This metric measures the share of all deaths from non-communicable diseases as a percentage of total deaths across all ages. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator SH.DTH.NCOM.ZS), non-communicable diseases include cancer, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, digestive diseases, skin diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and congenital anomalies. A higher share indicates that a greater proportion of deaths are attributable to these conditions relative to communicable diseases, injuries, and other causes. The dataset covers 183 countries with data from 2019, representing 100% coverage within the last seven years. All 183 datapoints carry official data quality status, and no extreme statistical outliers were identified at the three-standard-deviation threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by European countries. North Macedonia leads at 96.1% (Rank 1), followed by Bulgaria at 95.3% (Rank 2) and Serbia at 94.9% (Rank 3). The Balkans and Eastern Europe are heavily represented in the top 20, with Bosnia and Herzegovina (94.4%, Rank 4), Montenegro (94.1%, Rank 5), Hungary (93.9%, Rank 7), and Ukraine (91.9%, Rank 13) all appearing. Western European nations including Finland (92.9%, Rank 9), Austria (91.0%, Rank 17), Germany (90.6%, Rank 20), and Spain (90.8%, Rank 18) also rank high. Outside Europe, China (89.6%, Rank 30) and Canada (89.8%, Rank 27) place in the top third.

Mid-ranking countries show notable regional diversity. Japan ranks 61st at 84.8%, notably lower than many European peers despite its well-documented longevity profile. Singapore places 103rd at 75.0%, while South Korea ranks 91st at 77.9%. In the lower half of the ranking, Sub-Saharan African countries cluster heavily below Rank 140. South Africa ranks 139th at 51.3%, partly reflecting the burden of communicable disease in that country's mortality profile. Chad ranks last (183rd) at 27.0%, and Nigeria ranks 182nd at 27.1%. Nigeria's value is nearly identical to Chad's despite the two countries differing substantially in population size, which underscores that this metric reflects cause-of-death composition rather than absolute mortality levels.

A key limitation of this metric is that a high percentage of non-communicable disease deaths does not necessarily indicate better health outcomes; it can reflect reduced mortality from communicable diseases rather than lower overall mortality rates. Countries with high burdens of HIV/AIDS, malaria, or conflict-related deaths will mechanically show lower non-communicable disease shares. Reporting quality may also vary across countries, particularly where civil registration systems are incomplete, which can affect the accuracy of cause-of-death attribution. The metric also aggregates a wide range of disease categories, from cardiovascular conditions to congenital anomalies, which limits its specificity for any single disease area.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.DTH.NCOM.ZS, for the reference year 2019. The metric measures the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying cause attributable to non-communicable diseases. Per the source definition, non-communicable diseases include cancer, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, digestive diseases, skin diseases, musculoskeletal diseases, and congenital anomalies. The ranking covers 183 countries, all with data from within the last seven years (100% recency). All 183 datapoints are classified as official quality, meeting the 70% threshold. No extreme outliers were detected at the three-standard-deviation level. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 8.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 26.99% (Chad) to 96.13% (North Macedonia), a spread of 256.2%. A higher value indicates a greater proportion of total deaths attributed to non-communicable diseases.

Sources

World Bank