WRITING TASK 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The bar graph below shows the leading causes of deaths by gender in Australia in
2014.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.

Deaths in Australia in 2014

2413
Blood and lymph cancer (including leukaemia) 1862
2279
Colon, sigmoid, rectum and anus cancer 1890
2213
Diabetes 2135
3102
Breast or Prostate Cancer
2814
4947
3304
4164
3646
4279
6486
4106
7859

Trachea, bronchus and lung cancer

Chronic lower respiratory diseases
Cerebrovascular diseases
Dementia, including Alzheimer disease
Ischaemic heart diseases

9091
0

Females

11082

2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

Males

The bar graph compares the proportion of males and females who died from various
diseases in Australia in 2014.
It is clearly evident that ischaemic heart diseases were the biggest cause of death
for both men and women in 2014, accounting for 11,082 and 9,091 deaths,
respectively. Dementia including Alzheimer and cerebrovascular diseases were more
prevalent among females than males. About 14000 women and slightly more than
8000 men died from them.
Looking at life threatening health problems among men, it is noticeable that
trachea, bronchus and lung cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases were two
major killers. These illnesses took the lives of nearly 9000 men as compared to
7000 women. Surprisingly, the mortality rate due to diabetes was approximately
equal for both genders as figures stood at just over 2000 in both cases. Various

types of cancers such as skin, blood, colon, breast and prostate etc. were also
responsible for numerous deaths of both sexes in that year.
Overall, ischaemic cardiovascular problems contributed to the largest number of
deaths in 2014. Other major causes of deaths reflect a gender bias: mental
disorders like dementia and Alzheimer killed more females whereas respiratory
diseases led to the loss of lives of more males.