Last year, 1 in 4 Korean nationals died from cancer. The cancer mortality rate was 174.3 per 100,000 people, up 4.5% from the previous year. Among cancers, lung cancer had the highest mortality rate at 38. It was followed by liver, colorectal, pancreatic, and stomach cancers.
The mortality rate from intentional self-harm (suicide) was 29.1 per 100,000 people, an increase of 1.8 (6.6%) from the previous year. The dementia mortality rate was tallied at 29.3 per 100,000 people. The dementia mortality rate for women was more than twice that of men.
According to the 2024 Causes of Death Statistics released by Statistics Korea on the 25th, the number of deaths last year was 358,569, an increase of 6,058 (1.7%) from the previous year. The crude death rate (number of deaths per 100,000 population) was 702.6, up 13.3 (1.9%) from the previous year.
The top three causes of death were cancer, heart disease, and pneumonia. Deaths from these three diseases accounted for 42.6% of all deaths.
Of the deceased, 24.8% died from cancer. Cancer mortality rates were highest for lung cancer (38.0), followed by liver cancer (20.4), colorectal cancer (19.0), pancreatic cancer (16.0), and stomach cancer (14.1). Compared to the previous year, mortality rates increased for prostate cancer (9.7%), esophageal cancer (9.0%), pancreatic cancer (6.7%), uterine cancer (5.0%), and breast cancer (4.5%).
By sex, men had higher mortality rates for lung cancer (55.9), liver cancer (30.3), and colorectal cancer (21.5), while women had higher rates for lung cancer (20.3), colorectal cancer (16.5), and pancreatic cancer (15.7).
The mortality rate for circulatory system diseases such as heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and hypertension was 134.7 per 100,000 people. It was highest for heart disease (65.7), followed by cerebrovascular disease (48.2), and hypertensive disease (16.1).
Among causes of death due to external factors, suicide was the most common. The suicide mortality rate was 29.1 per 100,000 people. By age group, suicide was the leading cause of death from the teens through the 40s. It was also the second-leading cause of death in the 50s.
The sex ratio for the suicide rate showed men (41.8) were 2.5 times higher than women (16.6).
Among OECD countries, the age-standardized suicide rate (a standardized death rate that removes differences in age structure using the OECD standard population) averages 10.8 per 100,000 people, but Korea's was 26.2. As of last year, Korea had the highest suicide rate among OECD member countries.
The number of deaths due to dementia totaled 14,978, up 5.1% from the previous year. The dementia mortality rate was tallied at 29.3 per 100,000 people. By sex, women (39.5) were 2.1 times higher than men (19.1).