Heart disease, cancer, stroke lead causes of death in 2025

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

ISCHEMIC heart diseases, neoplasms (cancer), and cerebrovascular diseases remained the top three leading causes of death in the Philippines in 2025.

In a Facebook post on Monday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) noted that the findings are consistent with the data recorded during the same period in 2024, the PSA said.

Ischemic heart diseases topped the list, claiming 122,339 lives, which accounted for 19.7 percent of the country’s total nationwide deaths in 2025.

Neoplasms followed as the second leading cause, with 70,668 deaths, or 11.4 percent of the total.

Cerebrovascular diseases ranked third with 60,947 recorded cases, constituting 9.8 percent of the overall mortality figures.

Completing the top five leading causes of death were pneumonia with 43,106 cases (6.9 percent) and diabetes mellitus with 37,978 deaths (6.1 percent).

The PSA said the data were obtained from timely and late registered deaths at the Office of the City or Municipal Civil Registrar nationwide.

The records were submitted to the Office of the Civil Registrar General through the PSA-Provincial Statistical Offices and subsequently processed by the PSA-Civil Registration Service.

The figures exclude deaths of Filipinos abroad.

However, the report included deaths of foreign nationals as well as Filipinos whose usual residence is abroad, provided the deaths occurred within the country during the reference period.

The current results are still provisional and may differ from the final report, which is scheduled for release in January 2027.