Heart attacks and strokes were the most common death causes in the EU in 2016, according to a Eurostat statement on Tuesday.

The statement said in 2016, 36% of the deaths occurred due to heart attacks and strokes and 26% were because of cancer.

However, in Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, cancer was the main killer, the statement said.

The statement said a significant share of deaths in the EU were also due to accidents and other external causes.

There were 237,000 deaths because of accidents and other external causes in the same year, which makes 5% of all deaths in the EU, it said.

The death rate was highest in Bulgaria, 1,602 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Latvia and Romania (both 1,476), Lithuania (1,455) and Hungary (1,425).

The statement added that the lowest death rate across the EU was recorded in Spain (829 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), ahead of France (838), Italy (843), Malta (882), Luxembourg (905) and Sweden (913). (Anadolu Agency)