Heart disease main cause of death
ISCHEMIC heart disease, tumor growth and cerebrovascular diseases including stroke remained the three leading causes of death in the Philippines last year, according to the local statistics agency.
In a report, it said deaths due to ischemic heart disease — heart weakening caused by reduced blood flow to the heart — reached 122,027, 18.8% of 647,893 deaths listed last year.
Neoplasms or tumors were the second-highest cause of death with 69,449 or 10.7% of the total, followed by cerebrovascular diseases with 65,224 or 10.1%.
Completing the top five causes of deaths were diabetes mellitus at 41,056 or 6.3% and pneumonia at 40,082 or 6.2%.
In a separate report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country’s birth, death, and marriage rates declined by 7.6%, 4.7% and 13.3%, respectively from 2022.
Philippine births in 2023 fell to 1.3 million from 1.5 million, while deaths went down to 647,893 from 679,766. Marriages fell to 389,673 from 449,428. — Abigail Marie P. Yraola