For men, over one in three deaths are linked to cardiovascular disease. This is disease of the heart and blood vessels. While cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in men, the numbers have gone down by almost half in the past 25 years. Better medical care is available. For men of all ages, over one in four deaths are linked to cancer.
Lung cancer is still the biggest killer by far.
In 1998, more men died from lung cancer than from the three others combined. Fortunately, the number of men dying of cancer has gone down slowly since 1988. This is largely because fewer men are dying from lung and colorectal cancers. Still, men are getting cancer more often than before. The main reason is the rising number of men getting prostate cancer.