‘Heart disease still leading cause of death in Philippines’

MANILA, Philippines — Heart disease remained the top cause of death in the country from January to September 2023, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

PSA data showed ischemic heart disease was the top killer with 85,192 cases or 19 percent of total deaths in the country.

Neoplasms or cancer came in second with 47,425 deaths or a 10.6 percent share of the total in the same period.

Cerebrovascular disease accounted for 45,522 cases or 10.1 percent of total deaths.

“These were also the leading causes of death in the same period in 2022,” the PSA said.

Separate data released by the PSA showed the provisional number of registered deaths in the country in January-September 2023 declined 11.5 percent, to 449,206 deaths from 507,516 deaths in the same period in 2022.

Calabarzon has the highest number of registered deaths in January-September 2023, at 70,866 or 15.8 percent of the country’s total deaths.

In the National Capital Region (NCR), registered deaths decreased by 14.5 percent or 50,540 in January-September 2023 from 59,139 deaths in the same period in 2022.

Within NCR, Quezon City recorded the highest number of deaths in the same period at 11,429 or 22.6 percent of total deaths in the region.

Among provinces, Cavite had the highest number of registered deaths in January-September 2023 at 17,946 or four percent of the total fatalities in the country.

Registered births in the country posted a double-digit decline of 16.5 percent, to 879,511 in January-September 2023 from 1,052,747 in the same period in 2022.

Calabarzon recorded the highest number of registered births in the same period at 138,473 or 15.7 percent of the total.

There were 92,820 registered births in NCR from January to September last year, 20.4 percent lower than the 116,545 births registered in the same period in 2022.

Within NCR, Quezon City recorded the highest number of registered births at 19,865 or 21.4 percent of the total in the region.

The province with the highest number of registered births from January to September 2023 was Cavite with 37,273 or 4.2 percent of total births in the country.

PSA data also showed registered marriages went down 15.9 percent, to 284,649 in