Suicide returned to the top 10 leading causes of death last year, while COVID-19 dropped out of the ranking, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said today.
Cancer remained the leading cause of death for the 43rd consecutive year, the ministry's data showed.
Ranked at No. 10, there were more than 4,000 suicides for the first time last year, while deaths related to COVID-19 dropped from the sixth spot on the list in 2023 to No. 14, the data showed.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The top 10 causes of death were cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, hypertensive disease, accidental injuries, chronic lower respiratory disease, kidney disease and suicide, the ministry said.
There were 201,383 deaths last year, a 2 percent decrease from the previous year, Department of Statistics section head Lu Shu-chun (呂淑君) said.
The mortality rate was 860.2 deaths per 100,000 people, a 2.3 percent drop from 2023, she added.
Using the age-standardized mortality rate formulated by the WHO in 2000, the mortality rate was 410.3 per 100,000 people, a decrease of 4.5 percent from the previous year, she said.
Death rates have almost returned to levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, she added, as those over the age of 85 accounted for 61,726 of the total number of deaths, or 30.7 percent, Lu said.
That was a decrease of 2,488 compared with 2023, although the average age of death remained the same last year, at 77.
The top 10 causes of death accounted for 149,479 of all deaths last year, or 72 percent, Lu said.
Although deaths from suicide and pneumonia increased, those from accidental injuries, diabetes and kidney disease decreased, she added.
There were 54,032 cancer-related deaths last year, and the top 10 cancers were the same as in 2023: lung, liver, colon, breast, prostate, oral, pancreatic, stomach and ovarian, the data showed.
Lung cancer was the most fatal of all cancers for the past 21 years, Lu said.
Although deaths from prostate and ovarian cancer increased last year, other cancers decreased, she added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS