58 Injury Deaths per 100,000 from Accidents and Disasters... Leading Cause of Death for Those Under 44

58.3 Injury Deaths per 100,000 People Last Year
Self-Harm and Suicide Patients Increase 3.3 Times in 9 Years
KDCA: "Premature Deaths from Injury Lead to Societal Losses"

Last year, the number of deaths caused by "injury" was 58.3 per 100,000 people, accounting for about 8% of all causes of death. Injury refers to health problems caused by external factors such as various accidents, disasters, and poisoning, excluding diseases. Among those under the age of 45, it was the leading cause of death.

Electric kickboards have recently been involved in frequent accidents. The photo is for illustrative purposes only and is unrelated to the content.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced on November 27 that it had published an analysis report of statistical data on the "status of injury occurrence."

In 2023, the number of people who received medical treatment for injuries at healthcare institutions was 3.55 million, a 23.3% increase compared to the previous year. During the same period, the number of patients who visited emergency rooms due to injuries was 1.39 million, up 8.3% year-on-year, while the number of injury-related hospitalizations rose to 1.23 million, a 7.7% increase.

Deaths caused by injury last year stood at 58.3 per 100,000 people (8.3%), making it the fourth leading cause of death overall. In particular, among those aged 0 to 44, injury was the number one cause of death.

Specifically, injury-related deaths were most prevalent among the following age groups: 20.2 per 100,000 (68.6%) for ages 15-24, 33.6 per 100,000 (63.6%) for ages 25-34, 41.5 per 100,000 (41.8%) for ages 35-44, and 4.2 per 100,000 (21.4%) for ages 0-14. The agency pointed out that injury is the main cause of premature death among young people, resulting in significant socioeconomic losses.

The main causes of injury include falls, traffic (transportation) accidents, self-harm or suicide, and violence. Among these, self-harm and suicide have shown a steep increase. The proportion of injury patients visiting emergency rooms due to self-harm or suicide rose from 2.4% in 2015 to 8.0% in 2024, a 3.3-fold increase over nine years. This highlights the urgent need for greater social attention and countermeasures.

Injury refers to physical or mental health problems caused by external factors such as various accidents, disasters, and poisoning, excluding diseases. Through national-level management, it is possible to closely identify risk factors for each group and prevent injuries through appropriate interventions. In this regard, the agency has designated "Injury Prevention Day" (November 1 every year) for the first time this year and has introduced a comprehensive government-wide plan, setting injury as a key agenda and strengthening its response efforts.

Im Seungkwan, Commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, stated, "We will further advance injury surveillance to closely identify problems and discover risk factors in line with the changing social environment."

The newly published statistical report is available through the National Injury Information Portal.