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Death Rates by Leading Causes of Death, 1981 - 2000

Death Rates by Leading Causes of Death, 1981 - 2000

(Number of Deaths per 100000 Population)


Classification of diseases and causes of death is based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) 10th Revision from 2001 onwards. The disease groups for the purpose of ranking causes of death have also been redefined based on the ICD 10th Revision, and new disease groups have been added. Figures from 2001 onwards may not be comparable with figures for previous years which were compiled based on the ICD 9th Revision. Therefore, figures from 2001 onwards have been put down in a separate table.

Death rates for leading causes of death (based on ICD 9th Revision) : 1981, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2000
List of ranking is based on the number of deaths in 2000.



Cause of Death 1981 1991 1998* 1999* 2000*
1. Malignant neoplasms (ICD9: 140-208) 127.1 153.5 163.4 166.2 168.4
2. Heart diseases, including hypertensive heart disease (ICD9: 390-429) 73.9 84.5 77.3 79.0 83.1
3. Cerebrovascular disease (ICD9: 430-438) 62.7 52.3 50.4 52.8 53.3
4. Pneumonia, all forms (ICD9: 480-486) 41.2 31.6 56.4 45.1 45.6
5. Injury and poisoning (ICD9: 800-999) 37.5 31.5 29.2 31.1 28.6
6. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (ICD9: 580-589) 16.4 18.6 16.5 17.7 17.4
7. Diabetes mellitus (ICD9: 250) 5.1 4.7 8.0 11.0 12.5
8. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (ICD9: 571) 6.8 6.5 6.4 6.0 7.3
9. Septicaemia (ICD9: 038) 4.1 8.8 7.7 6.2 5.8
10. Aortic aneurysm (ICD9: 441) 1.9 3.5 5.5 4.9 5.0
All other causes 105.2 103.1 78.7 85.4 83.0
All causes 481.9 498.6 499.4 505.4 510.0

As death rates of most diseases are strongly age-dependent, with risk rising with age, direct comparison of crude death rates over time may be very misleading if the underlying age composition of the population being compared has also changed. Hence, age-standardised death rates of leading causes of death, which remove the impact of the change in age composition, are also presented in the linked table for intertemporal comparison.

Age-standardised Death rates for leading causes of death (based on ICD 9th Revision) : 1981, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2000


Notes :
* The figures in the table from 1998 onwards are compiled based on the population estimates under the "resident population" approach instead of the "extended de facto" approach.
The mortality figures in this table are based on number of "registered" deaths.
The disease codes according to the classification are shown in brackets.
Figures may not add up to total due to rounding.