MANILA, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- The number of deaths from 2012 to 2021 in the Philippines rose by 70.8 percent, according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data released over the weekend.
"The number of registered deaths from 2012 to 2021 has trended upward except in 2017 and 2020. The increase during the 10 years was 70.8 percent, from 514,745 in 2012 to 879,429 in 2021," the PSA said, adding that the number in 2021 was an increase of 43.2 percent from 613,936 in 2020.
"This is equivalent to a crude death rate of eight deaths per 1,000 population in 2021. This corresponds to an average of 2,409 deaths per day, translating to 100 deaths per hour or about two per minute," the agency said.
The age-sex structure of registered deaths in 2021 showed an inverted pyramid, with fewer deaths at younger ages, except for children under one, and progressively increasing as people age. And the data showed there were more male deaths than female mortalities recorded.
The proportion of males who died was the highest at 65 to 69 years old, which was 58,883, or 12.0 percent of male deaths, while for females, the largest being at the most senior age group, 85 years old and over, were 68,096, or 17.5 percent of female deaths.
"The sex ratio of 126 indicates that there were about 126 male deaths for every 100 female deaths," the PSA said.
Moreover, it added that a sex ratio of over 100 means more male deaths were registered than their female counterparts in every age group spanning zero to 79 years.
The causes of death were ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases or stroke, and COVID-19.
Deaths due to ischaemic heart diseases were the biggest contributors among the total registered deaths in 2021, making up some 17.7 percent.
Deaths due to the COVID-19 virus identified and the COVID-19 virus not specified accounted for 112,772 or 12.8 percent of total deaths, making it the second leading cause of death in 2021. ■