Diseases of the circulatory system caused 13,125 of the 25,564 deaths recorded in Armenia in 2025, or 51.3 percent, according to Statistical Committee figures cited by the Heratsi Analytical Center at Yerevan State Medical University for World Heart Day.
Deaths from those diseases fell 2.7 percent from 2024. Armenia’s overall death rate rose 0.5 percent in 2025, while the birth rate fell 4.6 percent.
Neoplasms were the second leading cause at 5,148 deaths, or 20.1 percent, down 2.1 percent from the previous year. Respiratory diseases accounted for 2,557 deaths, or 10 percent, an increase of 8.2 percent. Diseases of the digestive system caused 1,224 deaths, or 4.8 percent, down 7.4 percent.
Deaths have fallen this year. Armenia recorded 12,476 deaths in the first half of 2026, down 4.7 percent from 13,090 in the same period of 2025. Circulatory disease accounted for 6,425 of them, or 51.5 percent.
Armenia recorded 32,042 births in 2025, down from 33,593 in 2024. Stillbirths fell 12.8 percent to 389. The Statistical Committee has recorded a declining birth rate since January 2024.
The first half of 2026 brought 14,281 births against 14,564 a year earlier, a drop of 1.9 percent, with stillbirths down 16.3 percent to 169.
The population viability rate, which measures births against deaths, stood at 125.3 percent in 2025. It was 114.5 percent in the first half of 2026, up from 111.3 percent in the same period last year.
Armenia’s population was 3,097,000 on January 1, 2026, up from 3,076,200 a year earlier.
The Armenian share of deaths from cardiovascular disease runs well above the global one. The World Health Organization estimates that about 19.8 million people died of cardiovascular disease worldwide in 2022, roughly 32 percent of all deaths recorded that year. About 85 percent of those came from heart attacks and strokes, and more than three quarters occurred in low and middle income countries.
The figures were released for World Heart Day, observed on September 29 to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease and the value of prevention and early detection.
The World Heart Federation’s 2026 campaign, “Don’t Miss a Beat,” is built on the fact that cardiovascular disease can go unnoticed for long stretches. It urges people to recognize signs that are easy to dismiss and to seek medical attention when they appear.
The federation puts the global toll above 20 million lives a year and says many of those deaths could be prevented through risk reduction, early detection and proper treatment.
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