Death rates from stroke vary considerably within those areas of Europe where comparable data are available. Rates are higher in Central and Eastern Europe than in Northern, Southern and Western Europe. The death rate in men aged under 65 living in the Russian Federation is seventeen times higher than in Switzerland and for women of the same age it is thirteen times higher. The situation for all age stroke mortality rates is similar, with far higher rates in Eastern and Central Europe. The male mortality rate in Ukraine is around five times higher than in Ireland, and the female rate is around four times higher.

Death rates from stroke are falling rapidly in most European countries with some exceptions in Eastern and Central Europe. Since 1986, the male mortality rate in Belarus has increased by over 25%, and in Poland it has increased by over 15%. In most Western and Northern European nations the stroke mortality rates have fallen over this time period by at least 20%. The combined mortality rate in the 27 European Union countries has fallen by over 40% for both men and women in the last twenty years.