Reported deaths in 2019 reached 620,414, an increase of 5.0 percent from the 590,709 registered deaths in 2018.  This is equivalent to a crude death rate of 5.8, or about six (6) deaths per thousand population in 2019.  This corresponds to an average of  1,700 deaths per day, which  translates to 71 deaths per hour or one (1) death per minute in 2019.

The number of registered deaths from 2010 to 2019 showed an increasing trend except in the year 2017.  The increase during the ten-year period was 27.1 percent, from 488,265 in 2010 to 620,414 in 2019. (Figure 1, and Table 1).

Figure 1. Number and Percentage Change of Registered Deaths
in the Philippines: 2010 to 2019

Highest number of deaths recorded in CALABARZON

The top three regions in terms of number of registered deaths by usual residence were  CALABARZON with 91,969 deaths (14.8% share), National Capital Region (NCR) with 78,599 (12.7%), and Central Luzon with 74,374 (12.0%). The combined share of these three regions was 39.5 percent of the total registered deaths in 2019.

On the other hand, the three regions which had the least number of registered deaths were Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with 2,930 deaths (0.5%), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 9,155 (1.5%), and Caraga with 16,347 (2.6%). These regions accounted for only 4.6 percent of the total registered deaths in the country in the same year. (Figure 2, and Table 2)

January 2019 recorded the most number of deaths

In terms of daily average, January recorded the highest with 1,861 average deaths per day or 78 deaths per hour.  On the other hand, July marked the least daily average number of deaths with 1,597 deaths per day or equivalent to 67 deaths per hour. (Figure 3, and Table 3)

Daily Index refers to the increase/decrease from the overall daily average of event occurrences.  In 2019, the months of March to August and December fall below the national daily index of 100.0.  In other words, daily average deaths in these months were lower than the national daily average of 1,700 deaths. (Figure 3, and Table 3)

More male deaths than females deaths recorded

Figure 4 shows the age-sex structure of registered deaths in 2019.  It shows 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 male deaths (354,486) was higher than female deaths (265,928) in 2019.  The highest proportion of males died at the age of 65 to 69 years old (39,559 or 11.2% male deaths) while largest proportion of females (44,438 or 16.7% of female deaths) who died the oldest age group, 85 years old and over.  (Table 4)

The sex ratio of 133 indicates that there were 133 male deaths for every 100 female deaths.  Moreover, sex ratio of over a hundred means that more male deaths were registered compared to their female counterparts at each age group before 80 years old. Further, higher proportions of female deaths were observed in the older age groups (80 years old and over) compared to its male counterparts. (Table 4)

Six out of ten deaths were attended by health care provider

Attendant refers to a private physician, public health officer, hospital authority, or any other allied health care provider who provided medical attendance to the deceased.

Out of 620,414 registered deaths, 58.8 percent or 364,780 were medically attended. Only five regions, namely: Eastern Visayas (56.6%), Davao (55.4%), Central Visayas, (52.4%), MIMAROPA (52.3%), and SOCCSKSARGEN (50.1%), had more unattended than attended deaths. (Figure 5, and Table 5)

About 52 percent of the total deaths recorded occurred at home

In 2019, 322,719 or 52.0 percent of the total deaths occurred at home while 288,618 or 46.5 percent died in any health facilities. Some 1.3 percent have died in places other than home and health facilities, such as on the street, in public places, on board a vehicle, airplane or vessel while in transit, among others. However, 0.2 percent of deaths have place type that could not be determined or specified because of the missing information in the place of death or usual residence of the decedent.

Three regions had more deaths that occurred in hospital facilities than any other place type.  These were NCR (63.7%), Northern Mindanao (51.5%) and Davao (46.0%). (Figure 6, and Table 6)

Highest number of infant deaths recorded in CALABARZON

Infant deaths are deaths that occurred before reaching age 1. At the national level, 21,723 infant deaths were registered in 2019. Six out of ten deaths were males (12,473 or 57.4%). The three regions that registered the highest infant deaths were CALABARZON with 3,948 deaths (18.2% share), NCR with 3,899 (17.9%), and Central Luzon with 2,656 (12.2%).

On the other hand, ARMM (134 or 0.6%), CAR (246 or 1.1%) and Caraga (410 or 1.9%) had the least number of registered infant deaths. (Figure 7, and Table 7)

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 2019, there were 1,458 registered maternal deaths in the country.

Among all regions, CALABARZON recorded the highest number of maternal deaths with 255 (17.5% share), followed by NCR with 159 (10.9%), and Central Visayas with 158 (10.8%). On the other hand, ARMM (16 or 1.1%), and CAR (23 or 1.6%) recorded the least number of maternal deaths. (Figure 8, and Table 8)

Ischaemic heart diseases lead causes of deaths

Figure 9 shows the ten leading causes of death in 2019.  Among the total deaths, ischaemic heart diseases were the leading causes of death with 97,475 or 15.7 percent of the total registered deaths. Neoplasms, commonly known as “cancer”, were the second leading causes of death with 68,657 (11.1%), followed by cerebrovascular diseases with 63,548(10.2%). (Figure 9, and Table 9)

Among males, ischaemic heart diseases were the leading causes of death with 58,233 or 16.4 percent of the total registered deaths among males, followed by cerebrovascular diseases (36,199 or 10.2%) and neoplasms (32,542 or 9.2%).  Moreover, transport accident was included in the 10 leading causes of death with 10,561 or 3.0 percent of the total deaths in males. (Table 9)

Similar to males, the top causes of death among females were also ischaemic heart diseases contributing to 39,242 or 14.8 percent of the total deaths among females. This was followed by neoplasms with 36,115 (13.6%), and pneumonia with 31,279 (11.8%). (Table 9)

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