Cause-of-death statistics in 2016 in the Republic of Korea

This study aimed to analyze changes in the causes of death in the Korean population in 2016 and to provide some insights regarding how to cope with related issues of public health and welfare. The causes of death made available by Statistics Korea were classified according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision as well as the KCD-7 (Korean Standard Classification of Diseases and Causes of Death), which has been modified to fit circumstances in Korea. The total number of deaths was 280,827, which was an increase of 4,932 (1.8%) from 2015. The crude death rate was 549.4 per 100,000 population, which was an increase of 7.9 (1.5%) from 2015. The 10 leading causes of death, in order, were malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, pneumonia, intentional self-harm, diabetes mellitus, chronic lower respiratory diseases, liver diseases, hypertensive diseases, and transport accidents. The rank of hypertensive diseases rose from 10th in 2015 to 9th in 2016, while that of transfer accidents dropped from 9th in 2015 to 10th in 2016. The proportion of the number of deaths caused by cancer was 27.8%. The death rate due to cancer was 153.0 per 100,000 population, which was an increase of 1.4% from 2015; 16.5 deaths per 100,000 population were due to colon cancer, and 16.2 were due to stomach cancer. The above trends in causes of death reflect aspects of the population structure, disease patterns, lifestyle, and medical care in present-day Korean society.