Seoul, Sep 25 : Cancer, heart disease and pneumonia were among the key causes of death for South Koreans in 2024, data showed on Thursday, with suicide remaining the top factor among those in their 40s and younger.

Last year, the total number of deaths reported in the country came to 358,569, up 1.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea.

The agency said 702.6 deaths were reported per 100,000 South Koreans last year, also up 1.9 per cent from a year earlier.

The report showed that cancer accounted for 24.8 per cent of total deaths in 2024, followed by heart disease at 9.4 per cent and pneumonia at 8.4 per cent. The three factors were responsible for more than 42 per cent of total deaths.

Suicide, meanwhile, stood as the fifth-biggest cause of death for South Koreans at 4.1 per cent.

A total of 14,872 people took their own lives last year, up 6.3 per cent from a year earlier.

It remained the main cause of death for people aged between 10 and 49 in South Korea in 2024, and the second-biggest cause of death for those in their 50s, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea currently holds the highest suicide rate among the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which stood at 26.2 for every 100,000 people in 2024, far higher than the OECD average of 10.8.

According to the World Health Organisation, Cancer is a large group of diseases that can start in almost any organ or tissue of the body when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably, go beyond their usual boundaries to invade adjoining parts of the body and/or spread to other organs. The latter process is called metastasising and is a major cause of death from cancer. A neoplasm and malignant tumour are other common names for cancer.

Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that is most commonly caused by viruses or bacteria. It can cause mild to life-threatening illness in people of all ages; however, it is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide.

/IANS