Death rate by leading cause of death, 2001 - 2024

(Number of registered deaths per 100 000 population)

Classification of diseases and causes of death is based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) 10^th Revision from 2001 onwards. The disease groups for the purpose of ranking causes of death have also been redefined based on the ICD 10^th 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 9^th Revision. Therefore, figures before 2001 have been put down in a separate table.

Death rate by leading cause of death (based on ICD 10^th Revision) : 2001 - 2024
(Ranking according to the number of registered deaths in 2024)

Cause of death	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024^#
1. Malignant neoplasms (ICD-10: C00-C97)	169.9	172.9	171.0	173.8	180.7	176.4	178.1	179.0	184.1	186.2	187.2	186.5	189.3	190.9	196.3	193.7	194.2	195.8	198.1	197.9	203.8	200.3	197.3	200.2
2. Pneumonia (ICD-10: J12-J18)	45.1	47.4	57.6	54.2	63.0	61.3	72.0	78.8	76.2	82.8	87.8	97.3	95.1	103.8	109.8	113.0	108.6	113.2	123.5	125.2	132.6	142.9	150.4	151.5
3. Diseases of heart (ICD-10: I00-I09, I11, I13, I20-I51)	70.0	73.7	78.9	86.5	86.1	81.9	92.1	97.4	92.0	94.5	89.6	87.9	81.3	88.6	84.9	84.5	83.0	81.7	81.2	87.7	89.0	92.4	96.3	87.6
4. Cerebrovascular diseases (ICD-10: I60-I69)	46.6	47.7	51.4	50.4	50.4	48.2	50.8	53.0	49.4	48.7	47.2	45.8	45.3	46.1	44.7	43.9	42.3	40.5	39.6	42.3	42.2	41.6	40.4	38.7
5. External causes of morbidity and mortality^† (ICD-10: V01-Y89)	27.5	30.7	30.4	33.1	31.6	28.6	26.8	25.4	27.8	26.5	22.2	23.1	25.9	25.4	27.3	24.7	23.0	25.1	24.6	27.1	26.7	26.7	31.5	28.5
6. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (ICD-10: N00-N07, N17-N19, N25-N27)	15.7	15.6	17.6	17.4	18.5	18.8	19.5	20.4	20.8	21.3	21.8	22.8	22.1	23.3	22.7	23.3	22.4	21.8	22.2	23.0	24.0	24.6	23.3	23.2
7. Dementia (ICD-10: F01-F03)	3.8	4.3	3.8	4.1	4.2	4.2	4.6	7.1	9.1	10.9	10.6	12.6	13.9	15.4	15.7	18.7	19.7	19.5	19.8	19.8	20.2	21.4	20.4	18.1
8. Septicaemia (ICD-10: A40-A41)	6.3	6.9	8.5	9.1	10.3	9.9	10.7	11.5	10.6	11.8	10.8	11.7	11.9	12.2	12.2	13.2	13.1	13.2	14.2	14.8	16.8	16.5	17.6	15.3
9. Chronic lower respiratory diseases (ICD-10: J40-J47)	31.5	30.8	31.2	31.3	33.2	28.1	30.3	30.2	27.4	29.8	27.8	27.7	24.3	24.1	22.8	22.3	20.4	18.5	18.3	15.5	14.3	15.3	16.8	14.5
10. Coronavirus disease 2019^*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1.7	0.9	126.5	34.4	9.6
11. Diabetes mellitus (ICD-10: E10-E14)	10.1	8.5	11.6	10.7	8.8	7.5	7.3	7.9	7.1	7.4	6.5	5.6	5.0	5.4	6.7	6.8	5.4	6.4	6.6	7.8	7.4	9.0	7.6	5.9
Other causes	69.7	70.4	79.1	79.7	81.0	81.0	85.7	86.1	84.3	88.1	85.0	89.7	90.4	97.1	98.1	91.9	88.6	101.3	100.7	114.4	117.2	120.6	117.3	102.8
All causes	496.0	508.8	541.1	550.2	567.8	545.6	577.8	596.9	588.7	607.9	596.6	610.8	604.5	632.3	641.3	636.0	620.6	637.1	648.7	677.1	695.2	838.0	753.4	696.0

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 rate of leading causes of death, which remove the impact of the change in age composition, are also presented in the following table for intertemporal comparison.

Age-standardised death rate by leading cause of death (based on ICD 10^th Revision) : 2001 - 2024

Notes:
The figures are based on deaths registered under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance (Cap. 174, Laws of Hong Kong) during the specified period.

The corresponding disease codes are shown in brackets.

Figures may not add up to total due to rounding.

† According to the ICD 10^th Revision, when the morbid condition is classifiable under Chapter XIX as "Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes", the codes under Chapter XX for "External causes of morbidity and mortality" should be used as the primary cause of death.

* For mortality statistics of 2023 and earlier, deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were coded under the ICD-10 disease code J98.8 ("Other specified respiratory disorders"), which includes certain respiratory disorders other than COVID-19. For statistics from 2024 onwards, specific codes U07.1 ("COVID-19, virus identified") and U07.2 ("COVID-19, virus not identified") were adopted for deaths due to COVID-19, in line with WHO recommendations. The table only includes registered deaths where COVID-19 was identified as the underlying cause of death, irrespective of the coding practice.

- Not applicable.

# Provisional figures.