(Number of registered deaths per 100 000 standard 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 before 2001 have been put down in a separate table.
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 10th 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) | 133.5 | 131.2 | 125.8 | 124.4 | 125.2 | 118.7 | 116.5 | 114.2 | 113.8 | 111.6 | 109.7 | 106.2 | 104.6 | 103.3 | 104.3 | 100.4 | 97.8 | 95.8 | 94.2 | 91.6 | 90.6 | 86.2 | 82.9 | 81.4 |
| 2. Pneumonia (ICD-10: J12-J18) | 32.4 | 32.3 | 37.6 | 33.5 | 37.3 | 34.4 | 38.2 | 40.3 | 37.1 | 38.9 | 39.6 | 42.0 | 39.3 | 41.4 | 42.0 | 42.1 | 39.0 | 39.2 | 41.8 | 40.6 | 40.7 | 42.5 | 44.6 | 43.7 |
| 3. Diseases of heart (ICD-10: I00-I09, I11, I13, I20-I51) | 52.3 | 52.5 | 53.7 | 56.5 | 54.2 | 49.7 | 53.3 | 54.2 | 49.9 | 49.5 | 44.7 | 43.0 | 38.6 | 40.8 | 38.0 | 37.0 | 35.2 | 33.7 | 32.7 | 34.0 | 33.2 | 33.7 | 34.9 | 31.0 |
| 4. Cerebrovascular diseases (ICD-10: I60-I69) | 34.4 | 33.6 | 34.8 | 32.9 | 31.6 | 28.9 | 29.3 | 29.4 | 26.5 | 25.4 | 23.6 | 22.5 | 21.5 | 21.2 | 19.8 | 19.1 | 17.7 | 16.6 | 15.8 | 16.6 | 15.7 | 15.4 | 15.0 | 13.9 |
| 5. External causes of morbidity and mortality† (ICD-10: V01-Y89) | 23.5 | 25.8 | 25.1 | 26.5 | 25.1 | 22.2 | 20.4 | 19.3 | 20.8 | 19.8 | 15.8 | 16.2 | 18.7 | 17.2 | 18.0 | 16.3 | 15.3 | 16.6 | 16.1 | 17.5 | 17.0 | 16.4 | 19.7 | 18.5 |
| 6. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (ICD-10: N00-N07, N17-N19, N25-N27) | 11.6 | 11.2 | 12.1 | 11.5 | 11.7 | 11.6 | 11.4 | 11.6 | 11.4 | 11.1 | 10.9 | 11.1 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 7.5 |
| 7. Dementia (ICD-10: F01-F03) | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.4 |
| 8. Septicaemia (ICD-10: A40-A41) | 4.7 | 5.0 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 5.2 |
| 9. Chronic lower respiratory diseases (ICD-10: J40-J47) | 22.9 | 21.4 | 20.8 | 20.0 | 20.5 | 16.5 | 16.9 | 16.4 | 14.5 | 15.0 | 13.6 | 13.1 | 11.0 | 10.7 | 9.7 | 9.4 | 8.3 | 7.3 | 7.1 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 4.9 |
| 10. Coronavirus disease 2019* | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.7 | 0.4 | 38.8 | 10.7 | 2.8 |
| 11. Diabetes mellitus (ICD-10: E10-E14) | 7.6 | 6.2 | 8.0 | 7.0 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 2.2 |
| Other causes | 55.7 | 54.3 | 58.3 | 56.9 | 56.1 | 54.3 | 55.1 | 53.6 | 50.9 | 51.4 | 47.8 | 48.1 | 46.1 | 47.6 | 46.1 | 42.8 | 39.9 | 44.0 | 42.3 | 45.9 | 45.4 | 45.0 | 43.8 | 38.2 |
| All causes | 381.3 | 376.2 | 384.5 | 377.7 | 376.2 | 349.0 | 354.0 | 353.3 | 338.8 | 337.7 | 318.9 | 315.8 | 303.6 | 306.1 | 301.6 | 291.6 | 276.2 | 275.7 | 272.5 | 275.6 | 270.8 | 306.6 | 279.5 | 253.7 |
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.
† According to the ICD 10th 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.