SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Cancer, heart disease and pneumonia were among South Korea's key causes of death last year, statistical office data showed Friday.

Cancer caused 166.7 deaths per 100,000 South Koreans in 2023, up from 162.7 deaths in the previous year, according to Statistics Korea. It continued to rank first since relevant data began to be compiled in 1983.

Among the cancer-caused deaths, the death rate from lung cancer marked the highest with 36.5 deaths per 100,000 people, trailed by liver cancer at 19.8, colorectal cancer at 18.3, pancreatic cancer at 15.0, and gastric cancer at 14.1.

The second-highest cause of death was heart condition, which caused 64.8 deaths per 100,000 people last year.

The third-highest was pneumonia with a death rate of 57.5 per 100,000 in 2023, inching up from the fourth-highest cause of death in 2022.

On the top 10 list of causes of death were cerebrovascular disease with 47.3 deaths per 100,000 people, Alzheimer's disease at 21.7, diabetes at 21.6, hypertensive disease at 15.6, and blood poisoning at 15.3.

Suicide ranked fifth with a death rate of 27.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023, up from 25.2 deaths in the previous year.

Suicide was the first killer among those in their 10s, 20s, and 30s last year.

The number of deaths in the country totaled 352,511 in 2023, down 5.5 percent compared to the previous year. Enditem

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