In 2012, 1,043,292, or 55% of all deaths in Russia were caused by cardiovascular disease. The second leading cause of death was cancer which claimed 287,840 lives (15.2%). External causes of death such as suicide (1.5%), road accidents (1.5%), murders (0.8%), accidental alcohol poisoning (0.4%), and accidental drowning (0.5%), claimed 202,175 lives in total (10.6%). Other major causes of death were diseases of the digestive system (4.6%), respiratory disease (3.6%), infectious and parasitic diseases (1.6%), and tuberculosis (0.9%). The infant mortality rate in 2012 was 7.6 deaths per 1,000 (down from 8.2 in 2009 and 16.9 in 1999).. Did fewer people die from infectious and parasitc disease or digestive system diseases?