Age-standardised death rate by leading cause of death, 1981 - 2000
(Number of registered deaths per 100 000 standard population+)
Since 2001, the classification of diseases and causes of death has been based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), 10th Revision. The disease groups used for ranking causes of death have also been redefined according to the ICD-10, with new categories added. As a result, figures from 2001 onwards may not be directly comparable with those for earlier years, which were compiled using the ICD-9. Therefore, figures prior to 2001 are presented in a separate table.
Since death rates for most diseases are strongly age-dependent and typically increase with age, direct comparisons of crude death rates over time can be highly misleading if the underlying age structure of the population has changed. Therefore, age-standardised death rates for the leading causes of death, which eliminate the effect of changes in age composition, are also presented in the following table to enable valid intertemporal comparisons.
Age-standardised death rate by leading cause of death (based on ICD 9th Revision) : 1981, 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2000
(Ranking according to the number of registered deaths in 2000)
| Cause of death |
1981 |
1991 |
1998* |
1999* |
2000* |
| 1. Malignant neoplasms (ICD-9: 140-208) |
147.9 |
149.8 |
138.6 |
137.9 |
136.5 |
| 2. Heart diseases, including hypertensive heart disease (ICD-9: 390-429) |
93.8 |
84.4 |
64.1 |
64.0 |
64.8 |
| 3. Cerebrovascular disease (ICD-9: 430-438) |
79.9 |
52.7 |
41.7 |
42.6 |
41.4 |
| 4. Pneumonia, all forms (ICD-9: 480-486) |
56.6 |
33.1 |
47.0 |
36.8 |
35.3 |
| 5. Injury and poisoning (ICD-9: 800-999) |
39.8 |
30.2 |
26.2 |
27.2 |
24.8 |
| 6. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (ICD-9: 580-589) |
20.0 |
18.5 |
13.5 |
14.3 |
13.6 |
| 7. Diabetes mellitus (ICD-9: 250) |
6.3 |
4.6 |
6.6 |
8.8 |
9.7 |
| 8. Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (ICD-9: 571) |
7.8 |
6.4 |
5.5 |
5.2 |
6.0 |
| 9. Septicaemia (ICD-9: 038) |
5.2 |
9.1 |
6.4 |
5.1 |
4.7 |
| 10. Aortic aneurysm (ICD-9: 441) |
2.4 |
3.5 |
4.5 |
4.0 |
3.9 |
| Other causes |
135.9 |
107.4 |
67.8 |
71.9 |
67.9 |
| All causes |
595.8 |
499.7 |
421.9 |
417.7 |
408.7 |
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.
+ Based on the world standard population specified in GPE Discussion Paper Series: No.31, EIP/GPE/EBD, World Health Organization, 2001.
* 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.