Last Year, Deaths Decreased by 5.5%... Suicide Rate Increases Again After 2 Years

Last year, the number of deaths was 352,511, a decrease of 30,428 (5.5%) compared to the previous year. This is the first time in four years that the number of deaths has decreased since 2019 (-1.2%).

Deaths due to COVID-19 decreased as the pandemic transitioned to an endemic phase. Last year, COVID-19 deaths were recorded at 7,422. This represents a sharp decline of 76.2% from 23,838 COVID-19 deaths in the previous year. COVID-19 ranked third among all causes of death in 2022 but fell to tenth place last year.

The suicide rate increased again after two years since 2021. The number of intentional self-harm (suicide) deaths last year rose by 8.3% (1,072 people) to 13,978 compared to the previous year. The suicide rate (number of suicide deaths per 100,000 population) increased by 8.5% (2.2 people) to 27.3.

By age group, those in their 60s had the highest rate at 13.6%, followed by those in their 50s (12.1%) and teenagers (10.4%). However, among teenagers, the number of suicide deaths increased by 0.9% to 803, making it the only age group with an increase. Suicide was the leading cause of death for teenagers, people in their 20s, and 30s.

The age-standardized suicide rate based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) criteria was 24.8. The OECD average was 10.7, making South Korea the highest in the world.

Lim Young-il, head of the Population Trends Division at Statistics Korea, explained, “The continued economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 and the relative deprivation experienced mentally after the pandemic likely had an impact.”

The leading cause of death overall was malignant neoplasms (cancer). Cancer has been the leading cause of death since related statistics began in 1983. The cancer mortality rate (number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population) was 166.7, an increase of 2.5% (4.1 people) from the previous year. Among cancers, lung cancer (36.5), liver cancer (19.8), colorectal cancer (18.3), pancreatic cancer (15.0), and stomach cancer (14.1) had the highest mortality rates.

Following cancer, heart disease had a high mortality rate of 64.8, followed by pneumonia (57.5), cerebrovascular disease (47.3), and suicide (27.3).

Mortality rates decreased for transport accidents including traffic accidents (-5.1%), cerebrovascular disease (-4.6%), and Alzheimer’s disease (-4.2%).