Cause-of-death statistics in 2019 in the Republic of Korea

Background: This study aimed to present and analyze the causes of death in the Korean population in 2019. Methods: Based on the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases and Causes of Death and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, the 10th revision, cause-of-death data for 2019 from Statistics Korea, were examined. Results: There was a total of 295,110 deaths, dropping 3,710 (-1.27%) from 2018. The crude death rate (the number of death per 100,000 people) was 574.8, a 7.6 (-1.3%) reduction from 2018. The 10 leading causes of death, in order, were malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases, intentional self-harm, diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, liver diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and hypertensive diseases. Within the category of malignant neoplasms, the top five leading organs of involvement were the lung, liver, colon, stomach, and pancreas, which were the same to order in 2018. Alzheimer's disease rose to the seventh leading cause of death from the ninth in 2018. It ranked as the female's fifth leading cause of death. Pneumonia became the female's third leading cause of death Conclusion: These changes reflect the increase of female people over 65 years of age, who are vulnerable to cognitive disorders and infectious diseases. The Korean government has to take urgent preventive and therapeutic action against dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease.