Among the deaths from cancer, the number one cause of death in Korea, men accounted for 62% of the deaths.
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service recently announced that the number of cancer deaths in Korea is increasing every year. According to the data released by the HIRA, cancer (malignant neoplasm) is the number one cause of death in Korea in 2020.
In 2020, 82,204 people died from cancer, an increase of regarding 4% compared to 2018. Compared to 2012, it increased by regarding 11%. The average annual growth rate is 3%.
Looking at the number of cancer deaths in 2020 by gender, there were 5817 males and 31,387 females, much more male. It is analyzed that this is because the proportion of men who smoke and drink alcohol, which are the main causes of cancer, is higher in men. The monthly drinking rate who drank more than once a month for the past year was 70.2% for men, much higher than for women with 47.8%.
When looking at the number of deaths by cancer site, the number of deaths due to trachea, bronchial tubes and lungs was the highest at 18,673. Next, liver and intrahepatic bile ducts were the most common in 1565 patients, colon-rectum-anal 8944 patients, stomach 7510 patients, and pancreas 6775 patients.
As of 2020, there will be 160.1 deaths per 100,000 people due to cancer. Heart disease was the next most common with 63 and pneumonia with 43.3, and these three diseases accounted for regarding 45% of all deaths.