Seoul, Oct 4 (IANS): Cancer, heart disease, and pneumonia were among the key causes of death for South Koreans in 2023, according to a report on Friday.

According to data from Statistics Korea, suicide remained the top factor among those in their 30s and younger, Yonhap news agency reported.

The total number of deaths reported in the country came to 352,511 in 2023, 5.5 per cent down from a year earlier.

The agency added 689.2 deaths were reported per 100,000 South Koreans last year, also down 38.3 per cent from a year earlier.

The report showed that cancer accounted for 24.2 per cent of total deaths in 2023, followed by heart disease at 9.4 per cent and pneumonia at 8.3 per cent. The three factors were responsible for more than 40 per cent of total deaths.

Suicide, meanwhile, stood as the fifth-biggest cause of death for South Koreans at 4 per cent.

A total of 13,978 people took their own lives in 2023, up 8.3 per cent from a year earlier. The figure translates into 27.3 suicides for every 100,000 South Koreans.

It remained the main cause of death for people aged between 10 and 39 in South Korea in 2023, a chronic problem that has plagued Asia's number four economy for more than a decade.

Suicide was the second-biggest cause of death for South Koreans aged in their 40s and 50s as well, the data showed.

South Korea currently holds the highest suicide rate among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), with 24.1 out of every 100,000 people as of 2020, followed by Lithuania at a distant second with 18.5 and Slovenia with 15.7.