Western lifestyle chronic diseases such as heart disease and stroke have become the primary causes of death worldwide, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
The shift from infectious diseases including tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria - traditionally the biggest killers - to noncommunicable diseases will continue to 2030, the U.N. agency said in a report.
"In more and more countries, the chief causes of deaths are noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease and stroke," Ties Boerma, director of the WHO department of health statistics and informatics, said in a statement.
The annual report, World Health Statistics 2008, is based on data collected from the WHO's 193 member states.
It documents levels of mortality in children and adults, patterns of disease, and the prevalence of risk factors such as smoking and alcohol consumption.
By 2030, deaths due to cancer, cardiovascular diseases and traffic accidents will together account for about 30 percent of all deaths, it said.
Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death worldwide, killing "a third to a half of all those who use it," according to the WHO. It contributes to deaths from ischemic heart disease, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which numbered 5.4 million in 2004.
More than 80 percent of the 8.3 million tobacco-attributable deaths projected to occur in 2030 will be in developing countries, it says.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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