270,000 Deaths from Chronic Diseases Including Cancer, Heart, and Cerebrovascular Diseases Last Year... Medical Expenses Reach 90 Trillion Won

KDCA Reports 78% of All Deaths Due to Chronic Diseases
Medical Expenses Surge with Entry into Super-Aged Society

As the country enters a "super-aged society" with 20% of the population aged 65 or older, deaths from chronic diseases are increasing every year, and medical expenses are also rising significantly.

According to the "2024 Status and Issues of Chronic Diseases" published by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 26th, 275,183 people, accounting for 78.1% of all deaths in the country last year, died from chronic diseases.

Deaths from chronic diseases have continuously increased from 244,719 in 2020 to 252,993 in 2021, and 276,930 in 2022. Although the number of deaths slightly decreased in 2023, the proportion of deaths due to chronic diseases among total deaths rose by 3.8 percentage points compared to the previous year (74.3%).

The proportion of deaths caused by chronic diseases among the top 10 causes of death also increased, with malignant neoplasms (cancer) causing 85,271 deaths (24.2%), heart diseases 33,147 deaths (9.4%), cerebrovascular diseases 24,194 deaths (6.9%), Alzheimer's disease 11,109 deaths (3.2%), diabetes 11,058 deaths (3.1%), and hypertensive diseases 7,988 deaths (2.3%), most of which rose in ranking compared to the previous year.

Medical expenses due to chronic diseases have also surged from 71 trillion won in 2020 to 78 trillion won in 2021, 83 trillion won in 2022, and 90 trillion won in 2023. Among these expenses, costs related to circulatory system diseases accounted for 13.4 trillion won, representing 14.9% of total chronic disease medical expenses, followed by musculoskeletal diseases at 12.9%, and malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 11.2%. Among chronic diseases, medical expenses for essential (primary) hypertension were the highest at 4.4 trillion won, followed by type 2 diabetes at 3.1 trillion won.

Looking at changes in the prevalence of major chronic diseases over the past 10 years, the prevalence of hypertension among adults aged 19 and older has remained steady at 20-22%, and diabetes prevalence has stayed around 10%. In contrast, the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia in adults steadily increased from 11.9% in 2012 to 22.0% in 2022, and the adult obesity rate, which rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, remained at 37.2% as of 2022.

Among health risk factors, smoking rates have steadily declined, but alcohol consumption and physical activity levels have remained stagnant. The adult smoking rate in 2022 was 17.7%, down 1.6 percentage points from the previous year, while the adult high-risk drinking rate remained between 12% and 14% over the past decade, standing at 14.2%. The rate of aerobic physical activity practice increased significantly to 53.1% compared to the previous year.

Ji Young-mi, Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated, "With the entry into a super-aged society, deaths and disease burden caused by chronic diseases are expected to increase further."