Explanatory Notes

Presented in this special release are data on deaths occurring in 2004 and registered from January 2004 to December 2005. Since some documents were late registered, the cut off date for data inclusion was extended to accomodate more late registered documents. Statistics on this vital event were based on information obtained from the Death Certificates (Municipal Form No. 103) transmitted by the City/Municipal Civil Registrars to the Office of the Civil Registrar General of the National Statistics Office for processing and archiving. No adjustments for underregistration or for delay in the submission of these certificates were made in the analysis.

Death refers to the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after birth has taken place. It is a postnatal cessation of vital functions without capability of resuscitation, thus, fetal death is not included. Place of occurrence refers to the place where vital event took place, while usual residence refers to the place where the deceased had habitually or permanently resided when still alive.

Male deaths account for about 60.0 percent of total deaths

A total of 403,191 deaths was registered in the country in 2004. Of this total, 237,750 (59.0%) were of males and 165,441 (41.0%) were of females.

The National Capital Region (NCR) reported the highest incidence of death with 58,513 or 14.5 percent of the total. Calabarzon, with 55,813 (13.8%) and Central Luzon, with 46,858 (11.6%) ranked second and third, respectively. The rest of the regions contributed less than 10 percent each to the total number of recorded deaths.

Ilocos has highest CDR

The crude death rate (CDR), or the number of deaths per thousand population was computed at 4.9. Males had a higher CDR than females, 5.7 versus 4.0.

Ilocos posted the highest CDR with 6.6 deaths per thousand population. It surpassed NCR’s CDR of 5.3. In contrast, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao registered the lowest CDR with only 1.0 death per thousand population.

January ranks first in death reports

A total of 403,191 deaths were reported in 2004, or a daily average of 1,102.

Table 2 shows that January had the highest number of deaths with 35,593 or 1,148 deaths per day. August followed with 35,483, or an average of 1,145 deaths per day. October and December contributed 8.6 percent each to the total number of deaths.

In contrast, February had the least number of deaths with 31,201 but its daily average of 1,076 deaths was greater than the 1,054 daily average for March.

Females aged 85 and over comprises almost a tenth of all deaths

Records show that the highest occurrence of deaths was among those aged 85 years and over, with 38,205 or 9.5 percent of the total deaths in 2004. Females in this age group numbered 23,712 (62.1%). In general, however, males had higher incidence of death than females. For every 100 female deaths, there were 144 deaths among males.

Further, death occurrence was lowest among males aged 10-14 years with only 2,747 or 0.7 percent of total deaths. The median age at death was 58 years for males and 67 years for females. The number of deaths gradually increased from age group 15-19 to 70-74 years of age. After dropping at ages 75 to 84 years, it again increased at age group 85 years and over.

Diseases of the heart remain to be the leading cause of death

Out of 403,191 total deaths in 2004, 284,037 or 70.4 percent were caused by the top ten leading causes of death for the year. Only 119,254 deaths or 29.6 percent were due to all other causes.

In 2004, the top three leading causes of deaths were diseases of the heart with 70,861 (17.6 percent of total deaths), followed by cerebrovascular diseases (43,077 or 10.7 percent), and malignant neoplasms (40,524 or 10.1 percent).