SEOUL, OCT 4 – Cancer, heart disease and pneumonia were among the leading causes of death in South Korea last year, according to statistics office data today, reports Xinhua.
Cancer caused 166.7 deaths per 100,000 South Korean residents in 2023, up from 162.7 deaths the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It has continued to occupy first place since relevant data began to be collected in 1983.
Among cancer-related deaths, the death rate from lung cancer recorded the highest with 36.5 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by liver cancer at 19.8, colorectal cancer at 18.3, pancreatic cancer at 15, and gastric cancer at 14.1.
The second highest cause of death is heart disease, which caused 64.8 deaths per 100,000 people last year.
Pneumonia is in third place with a death rate of 57.5 per 100,000 people in 2023, up slightly from fourth place in 2022.
In the list of the 10 leading causes of death, disease cerebrovascular recorded 47.3 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Alzheimer’s disease at 21.7, diabetes at 21.6, hypertension at 15.6 and blood poisoning at 15.3.
Suicide is in fifth place with a death rate of 27.3 per 100,000 people in 2023, up from 25.2 deaths the previous year.
Suicide was the leading cause of death among individuals in their teens, 20s and 30s last year.
The number of deaths in the country was 352,511 in 2023, down 5.5 percent from the previous year. – Named
