WHO Lists Heart Disease, Stroke Among Top Causes of Death Globally

Ischaemic heart disease and stroke remained the leading causes of death globally in 2023, accounting for more than 16 million deaths combined, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO disclosed this in its latest report on the leading causes of death worldwide, highlighting the continued dominance of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in global mortality.

Ischaemic heart disease, which occurs when narrowed or blocked arteries restrict blood flow and oxygen to the heart muscle, was responsible for approximately 9.5 million deaths in 2023.

The figure represents about 16 percent of all deaths recorded globally during the year.

Stroke ranked second, with approximately 6.8 million deaths, representing 11 percent of global deaths.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the third leading cause, accounting for about 3.6 million deaths, while lower respiratory infections ranked fourth with 2.7 million deaths.

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia ranked fifth, causing approximately 2.1 million deaths globally.

The WHO said eight of the 10 leading causes of death in 2023 were non-communicable diseases, which collectively accounted for 74 percent of deaths worldwide.

This represents an increase from 58 percent in 2000.

Other conditions among the top 10 causes of death were diabetes, trachea, bronchus and lung cancers, hypertensive heart disease, kidney diseases and diarrhoeal diseases.

According to the health agency, the 10 leading causes collectively accounted for about 33 million deaths, or 54 percent of the estimated 61 million deaths recorded worldwide in 2023.

The WHO said cardiovascular diseases continued to constitute the leading cause of death and disease burden globally.

“There has been substantial progress in reducing the burden of ischaemic heart disease since 2000 in many parts of the world,” the report said.

“However, increases in risk at an individual level were recorded in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia Regions, highlighting persistent inequalities in cardiovascular health between populations.”

The report also highlighted a significant increase in deaths associated with dementia.

Dementia rose to become the fifth leading cause of death globally in 2023, compared with 19th in 2000.

The WHO said deaths from dementia had tripled over the period, reflecting the growing impact of the condition as populations age.

Meanwhile, global life expectancy recovered to 73.3 years in 2023, approaching the 73.4 years recorded in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, healthy life expectancy remained below its pre-pandemic level.

The WHO put healthy life expectancy at 62.8 years in 2023, which was 0.4 years lower than the 2019 figure.

COVID-19, which had featured prominently among the world’s leading causes of death during the pandemic, also dropped out of the global top 10 in 2023 for the first time since the outbreak began in 2020.