DEATHS linked to Scotland's three biggest killers – cancer, heart disease and strokes – fell last year.
The number of deaths from cancer fell for the second year running to 15,466, including 4,128 from lung cancer.
Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK's science information manager, said: "Thanks to continued research leading to earlier diagnosis and more
effective prevention and treatment, death rates for the most common cancers in Scotland have been falling over the last decade.
"Survival rates for many cancers have increased significantly since 1980, particularly for bowel cancer, Hodgkin's disease and leukaemia, breast and cervix cancer in women and the skin cancer melanoma in men."
Fatal coronary heart disease cases fell by almost 7 per cent and strokes by more than 8 per cent.
A spokeswoman for the Stroke Association Scotland said:
"These trends reflect improvements in male smoking.
"However, Scotland is the second most obese country in the world, after America, and there are increasing levels of type 2 diabetes, which has been strongly linked to strokes.
"Acute medical care is also improving in line with the Scottish Government's stroke strategy."
The total number of deaths in Scotland fell by more than 3 per cent to 53,856 last year.
