Reported deaths in 2018 reached 590,709, an increase of 2.0 percent from the previous year’s 579,237 deaths. This is equivalent to a crude death rate (CDR) of 5.6, or about six (6) persons per thousand population. In 2018, an average of 1,618 persons died daily. This translates to 67 deaths per hour or one (1) per minute.

The number of deaths from 2009 to 2018 showed an increasing trend except in the year 2017. The increase during the ten-year period is 22.9 percent, from 480,820 in 2009 to 590,709 in 2018 (Figure 1 and Table 1).

Highest number of deaths recorded in CALABARZON

The top three regions in terms of number of deaths by usual residence were found in Luzon: CALABARZON with 85,816 or 14.5 percent, followed by NCR with 74,934 or 12.7 percent, then Central Luzon with 70,706 or 12.0 percent. The combined share of these three regions was 39.2 percent of the total deaths.

On the other hand, the three regions which had the least number of deaths were ARMM (3,703 or 0.6%), CAR (8,576 or 1.5%) and Caraga (15,348 or 2.6%). These numbers accounted for only 4.7 percent of the total deaths in the country (Figure 2 and Table 2).

January records the most number of deaths

The month of January recorded the highest number of deaths with 52,126 or 8.8 percent, while February had the least number with 45,236 or 7.7 percent share of the total deaths. 

Daily Index is the increase/decrease from the overall daily average of event occurrences.  In 2018, the months of February to July fall below the national daily index of 100.0 (Figure 3 and Table 3).

More deaths in males than females

Figure 4 shows the age and sex pattern of deaths in 2018. It reflects an inverted pyramid, with fewer deaths at the younger ages, except for children under one, and progressively increasing as people grow older.  In the Philippines, the number of deaths in males (337,789) was higher than deaths in females (252,920) in 2018. Highest proportion of males died at the age of 65 to 69 years (11.0% or 37,129 male deaths) while largest proportion of females (16.5% or 41,741) died in their oldest age group, 85 years and over (Table 4).

In 2018, the sex ratio of 134 indicates that there are 134 male deaths for every 100 female deaths. It is clearly shown that males died at a higher rate than females before reaching the age of 80 years, with the sex ratio of over a hundred. Higher proportions of female deaths were observed in the older age groups (80 years and over), compared to its male counterparts, which is indicative of higher survival rate of females than males (Table 4).

Six out of ten deaths attended by health care provider

Attendant refers to a medical doctor or any other allied health care provider who provided medical attendance to the deceased.

Out of 590,709 registered deaths, more than half or 360,429 were medically attended. Only three regions, namely: Region VIII (55.4%), Region XI (53.5%), MIMAROPA (51.4%), had more unattended deaths than those attended by any health care provider (Figure 5 and Table 5).

Highest number of infant deaths recorded in CALABARZON

Infant deaths are deaths that occurred before reaching age 1. At the national level, 21,019 infant deaths were registered in 2018. Six out of ten deaths were males (12,174 or 57.9%). The three regions that registered the highest infant deaths were CALABARZON with 3,698 (17.6%), NCR with 3,495 (16.6%) and Central Luzon with 2,455 (11.7%).

On the other hand, ARMM (178 or 0.8%), CAR (254 or 1.2%) and Caraga (370 or 1.8%) had the least number of registered infant deaths (Figure 6 and Table 6).

Highest number of maternal deaths recorded in CALABARZON

According to the World Health Organization, maternal death is the “death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.”  In 2018, there were 1,616 registered maternal deaths in the country.

Among all regions, CALABARZON recorded the most number of maternal deaths with 245 or 15.2 percent of the total, followed by Region VII with 230 or 14.2 percent, and NCR with 195 or 12.1 percent. On the other hand, CAR and ARMM recorded the least number of maternal deaths, each with only 12 or 0.7 percent of the total (Figure 7 and Table 7).

Ischaemic heart diseases lead causes of deaths

Figure 8 shows the ten leading causes of death in 2018. It can be seen that among the total deaths, ischaemic heart diseases were the leading causes of death with 88,433 or 15.0 percent. Neoplasms, which are commonly known as “cancer”, were the second leading causes of death with 63,454 or 10.7 percent, followed by cerebrovascular diseases with 61,959 or 10.5 percent (Figure 8 and Table 8).

Among males, ischaemic heart diseases were the leading causes of death with 53,128 or 15.7 percent followed by cerebrovascular diseases (35,020 or 10.4%) and neoplasms (30,101 or 8.9%). It was also observed that transport accident was included in the 10 leading causes of death with 10,381 or 3.1 percent of the total deaths in males. 

Similar to males, the top causes of death among females were also ischaemic heart diseases (35,305 or 14.0%), followed by neoplasms with 33,353 or 13.2 percent and pneumonia with 28,952 or 11.4 percent of the total deaths in females (Table 8).

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

Explanatory Notes

Data on deaths presented in this release were obtained from the Certificates of Death (Municipal Form No. 103) that were registered at the Office of the City/Municipal Civil Registrars all throughout the country and forwarded to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Information presented includes registered deaths which occurred from January to December 2018. Cumulative figures for 2018 reflect updated data received from previous months and may differ from preliminary counts previously published.  Fetal deaths as well as deaths of Filipinos that occurred abroad which were reported to the Philippine Foreign Service Posts are presented in a separate report.  Figures shown were not adjusted for under registration.