The World Health Organisation (WHO) says ischaemic heart disease and stroke remain the leading causes of death worldwide.
The health agency disclosed this in a report published on Friday outlining the major causes of death globally.
Ischaemic heart disease, which occurs when arteries become narrowed or blocked, limiting blood and oxygen supply to the heart, caused approximately 9.5 million deaths in 2023. This represented 16% of all deaths recorded globally that year.
Stroke ranked second, accounting for about 6.8 million deaths, equivalent to 11% of global deaths. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the third leading cause, responsible for approximately 3.6 million deaths.
Lower respiratory infections ranked fourth with about 2.7 million deaths, while Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias came fifth, accounting for roughly 2.1 million deaths.
The WHO said eight of the 10 leading causes of death worldwide in 2023 were non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These diseases accounted for 74% of all deaths globally, compared with 58% in 2000.
Other causes among the leading 10 were diabetes, trachea, bronchus and lung cancers, hypertensive heart disease, kidney diseases and diarrhoeal diseases.
According to the WHO, the 10 leading causes collectively accounted for 33 million deaths in 2023, representing 54% of the 61 million deaths recorded globally during the year.
The agency said cardiovascular diseases continued to account for the largest share of deaths and disease burden worldwide.
“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 became the fifth leading cause of death globally in 2023, compared with 19th place in 2000, with deaths linked to the condition tripling during the period.
The WHO further reported that global life expectancy rose to 73.3 years in 2023, nearly returning to the 73.4 years recorded in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, healthy life expectancy was 62.8 years in 2023, remaining 0.4 years below the 2019 figure.
COVID-19, meanwhile, dropped out of the world’s 10 leading causes of death for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.