Reported deaths in 2016 reached 582,183. The figure shows an increase of 21,578 or 3.8 percent higher than the previous year’s 560,605 deaths, which is equivalent to a crude death rate (CDR) of 5.6, or about six (6) persons per thousand population. In 2016, an average of 1,591 persons died daily. This translates to 66 deaths per hour or one (1) per minute.

The number of deaths from 2006 to 2016 showed an increasing trend. The increase during the ten-year period is almost one-third, or 32.0 percent, from 441,036 in 2006 to 582,183 in 2016. The reason for the increase may have been due to a slight increase in registration of deaths. (see Figure 1 and Table 1).