ISCHAEMIC heart diseases remained the leading cause of death in the Philippines from January to June 2025, followed by neoplasms and cerebrovascular diseases, according to provisional data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
The PSA reported that ischaemic heart diseases accounted for 53,985 deaths, representing 19.9 percent of the total deaths nationwide during the period. This was consistent with data recorded during the same period in 2024.
Ischemic heart disease, according to the American Heart Association, is heart damage caused by narrowed heart arteries.
Other leading causes of death
Neoplasms ranked as the second leading cause of death, with 30,961 cases, or 11.4 percent of total deaths, while cerebrovascular diseases placed third with 27,164 recorded cases, accounting for 10.0 percent.
A neoplasm is an abnormal mass of tissue resulting from excessive cell growth; it can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Cerebrovascular disease, on the other hand, refers to disorders of the blood vessels supplying the brain, with stroke being the most common and severe form, according to the World Health Organization.
Pneumonia emerged as the fourth leading cause of death with 18,365 cases, or 6.8 percent, followed by diabetes mellitus, which ranked fifth with 16,632 deaths, or 6.1 percent of the total.
The PSA said the rankings of the top three causes of death for the first half of 2025 were unchanged from the same period last year, based on provisional figures as of Oct. 31. / JJL