Release Date :
Reference Number :
2023-59
Explanatory Note Data on deaths presented in this release were obtained from the Certificates of Death (Municipal Form No. 103) that were registered at the Office of the City/Municipal Civil Registrars all throughout the country and forwarded to the Philippine Statistics Authority. This release shows an overview of the registered deaths which occurred from January to December 2021, including the 10 leading causes of death. Deaths of Filipinos that occurred abroad which were reported to the Philippine Foreign Service Posts are presented in a separate report. Figures shown were not adjusted for under registration. |
An average of 2,409 deaths registered per day
In 2021, a total of 879,429 deaths were registered in the Philippines, an increase of 43.2 percent from 613,936 in 2020. This is equivalent to a crude death rate of 8.0, or eight deaths per 1,000 population in 2021. This corresponds to an average of 2,409 deaths per day, which translates to 100 deaths per hour or about 2 deaths per minute.
Figure 1. Number and Percentage Change of Registered Deaths in the Philippines: 2012 to 2021
The number of registered deaths from 2012 to 2021 has trended upward except in the years 2017 and 2020. The increase during the ten-year period was 70.8 percent, from 514,745 in 2012 to 879,429 in 2021. (Figure 1 and Table 1)
Highest number of deaths reported in CALABARZON
The highest number of registered deaths by usual residence occurred in CALABARZON with 138,298 (15.7% share), followed by Central Luzon with 113,127 (12.9% share), and National Capital Region (NCR) with 105,178 (12.0% share). The combined share of these three regions was 40.5 percent of the total registered deaths in 2021.
On the other hand, the three regions which had the least number of registered deaths were Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with 6,662 (0.8% share), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 13,241 (1.5% share), and MIMAROPA Region with 22,934 (2.6% share). These regions accounted for only 4.9 percent of the overall registered deaths in the Philippines in the same year. (Figure 2 and Table 2)
September had the most number of deaths
In 2021, the average number of deaths registered per day was highest in September at 3,992 or about 166 deaths per hour. The month of December had the lowest number of deaths registered per day at 1,813 or equivalent to 76 deaths per hour.
Daily index refers to the increase/decrease from the overall daily average of event occurrences. The months of July to October surpassed the national daily index of 100.0 in 2021. In other words, daily average deaths in these months were higher than the national daily average of 2,409 deaths. (Figure 3 and Table 3)
More male deaths than female deaths recorded
Figure 4 shows the age-sex structure of registered deaths in 2021. 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 (491,053 or 55.8% share) was higher than female deaths (388,376 or 44.2% share) in 2021. The proportion of males who died was highest at the age of 65 to 69 years old (58,883 or 12.0% of male deaths) while for females, the largest was at the oldest age group, 85 years old and over (68,096 or 17.5% of female deaths).
The sex ratio of 126 indicates that there were about 126 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 every age group spanning 0 to 79 years. Further, higher proportions of female deaths were observed in the older age groups (80 years old and over) compared to its male counterparts. (Figure 4 and Table 4)
Five 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 at the time of death.
Out of 879,429 registered deaths, 51.9 percent or 456,784 deaths were attended. In 2021, 9 of the 17 regions had more unattended deaths compared to its attended deaths. (Figure 5 and Table 5)
Three fifths of the total registered deaths occurred at home
In 2021, 546,038 or 62.1 percent of the total deaths occurred at home while 327,136 or 37.2 percent died in any health facilities. Some (0.7% share) 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, a small proportion of deaths have undetermined or unspecified sites because of the missing information in the place of death or usual residence of the deceased.
Among the 17 regions, only NCR had more deaths that occurred in health facilities than any other site of occurrence at 61.2 percent. (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, 18,607 infant deaths were registered in 2021. Six out of ten deaths were males (10,678 or 57.4%). The three regions with the highest number of infant deaths recorded were CALABARZON (3,232 or 17.4% share), NCR (2,839 or 15.3% share), and Central Luzon (2,259 or 12.1% share).
On the other hand, BARMM (223 or 1.2% share), CAR (245 or 1.3% share) and Caraga (405 or 2.2% share) had the least number of registered infant deaths. (Figure 7 and Table 7)
Highest number of maternal deaths recorded in CALABARZON
A maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization as, “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the 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 2021, a total of 2,478 women were identified as having died of maternal causes in the country.
Among all regions, CALABARZON recorded the highest number of maternal deaths with 392 (15.8% share), followed by NCR with 314 (12.7% share), and Central Luzon with 304 or 12.3 percent share. On the other hand, CAR (32 or 1.3% share) and BARMM (45 or 1.8% share), recorded the least number of maternal deaths. (Figure 8 and Table 8)
Ischaemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and COVID-19 led causes of deaths
Deaths due to ischaemic heart diseases were the biggest contributors among the total deaths in 2021, making up some 17.7 percent (155,775) of the total registered deaths. This was followed by deaths due to cerebrovascular diseases (including stroke) at some 9.8 percent (85,904). Mortality due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), virus identified ranked third at 9.0 percent (79,423). Neoplasms were behind accounting for 7.9 percent (69,541) of the total deaths. By sex, similar trend with some deviations in the ranking among the leading causes of deaths was observed.
Deaths due to COVID-19 virus identified and COVID-19 virus not identified, when combined, accounted for 112,772 or 12.8 percent of total deaths, making it the second leading cause of death in 2021. (Figure 9 and Table 9)
CALABARZON recorded the highest number of fetal deaths
Fetal death refers to the death of a fetus irrespective of the duration of pregnancy prior to complete expulsion or extraction of a product of conception from the mother's womb. In 2021, a total of 9,524 fetal deaths were reported. By usual residence of mother, CALABARZON had the highest number with 1,789 cases or 18.8 percent of the total, followed by NCR (1,573 or 16.5% share) and Central Luzon (951 or 10.0% share). (Figure 10 and Table 10)
DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
1Population estimate used was taken from the updated population projections based on the 2015 Census of Population available at www.psa.gov.ph/statistics/census/projected-population
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Special Release |
331.64 KB |
 Statistical Tables on Death 2021 |
52.41 KB |
|
Statistical Tables 2021 Deaths |
564.38 KB |