Cancer Tops S.Korea’s Cause of Death in 2019

In South Korea, cancer was the leading cause of death in 2019, continuing to rank first after relevant data began to be collected in 1983, statistical data from the office showed Tuesday.

According to Statistics Korea, cancer caused 158.2 deaths per 100,000 individuals here in 2019, up 2.5 percent compared to the previous year, reports Xinhua.

The lung cancer death rate was 36.2 per 100,000, the highest among cancer-caused deaths, followed by 20.6 liver cancer, 17.5 colorectal cancer, 14.9 gastric cancer, and 12.5 pancreatic cancer, respectively.

The second-highest cause of death was cardiac disorder, which caused 60.4 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019. The third-highest was pneumonia with the death rate of 45.1 per 100,000.

Cerebrovascular disease with 42.0 deaths per 100,000, diabetes with 15.8, Alzheimer's disease with 13.1, liver disease with 12.7, chronic lower respiratory disease with 12.0 and hypertensive disorder with 11.0 is on the top 10 list of causes of death.

With the death rate of 26.9 per 100,000 in 2019, suicide ranked fifth, continuing to grow for two straight years.

On average, among the 36 participants of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it was far higher than 11.3.

Suicide was the leading cause of death last year for those between the ages of 10 and 39.