The nation’s average life expectancy would rise 3.46 years if cancer were excluded from the data, the 2023 Table of Life released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior showed.
The ministry said it calculated the number of deaths due to the top 10 causes of death, then calculated the average life expectancy without each specific cause of death and compared it with the average life expectancy.
The discrepancy between the numbers indicates how seriously a cause of death affects average life expectancy, it said.
Source: Ministry of the Interior
Cancers have been the top cause of death for the past 42 years, the ministry said.
Last year, cancer killed 53,126 people, accounting for about 25.84 percent of the nation’s total mortality rate, it said.
Removing the average life expectancy of those dying from cancer from the equation increases average life expectancy to 83.69 years from 80.23 years, it said.
The discrepancy between the average life expectancy of those dying from cancer and the average life expectancy of the general public has dropped from 4.19 years in 2013 to 3.46 years last year, indicating that cancer’s effects on average life expectancy are decreasing, the ministry said.
The discrepancy between the average life expectancy of those dying from pneumonia, which is No. 3 in the top 10 causes of death nationwide, and the average life expectancy of the general public fell from 1.06 years in 2021 for three consecutive years before last year rising back up to 0.94 years, it added.
Men have a higher mortality rate than women for cancers, heart diseases, pneumonia, cerebrovascular disease, COVID-19, accidents and chronic lower respiratory diseases, the ministry said.
Women have a higher mortality than men for diabetes, hypertension-related diseases, nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and other kidney-related diseases, it said.
The data were compiled to better understand how causes of death affected average life expectancy, the Department of Statistics said.
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