Cancer emerged last year as the second leading cause of death in the country, overtaking stroke in claiming many Filipino lives, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Thursday.
Data showed that cancer replaced COVID-19 as one of the top three cause of death among Filipinos, with those who succumbed from the virus down 84 percent year-on-year to 17,662 or around 2.7 of total mortality, a testament to effectiveness of the government’s mass vaccination program.
The PSA said data showed ischaemic heart diseases were the leading cause of death with 121,558 cases or 18.3 percent of the total deaths in the country. “On the other hand, neoplasms, came in second with 67,669 deaths (10.2 percent share), while cerebrovascular diseases were the third leading cause with 67,475 recorded cases (10.2 percent share),” it added.
Deaths due to diabetes mellitus recorded 41,886 cases or 6.3 percent of total, while deaths due to hypertensive diseases was recorded at 38,119 cases or 5.7 percent of total mortality.
In all, however, total registered deaths last year declined by 25 percent to 664,221. Around 57 percent of those who died are male.
Meantime, the PSA said the preliminary number of registered births in 2022 reached 1.38 million, up 1.3 percent from the previous year’s total of 1.36 million. Around 52 percent of last year’s births are male.
The preliminary number of registered marriages from last year reached 433,871, up 22 percent from the 356,839 registered in 2021.
