Ischaemic heart disease is still the world's deadliest condition; meanwhile, Covid-19 has been among the global top 10 causes of death for the first time since the pandemic began, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data released on Friday.
In 2023, the top 10 causes of death made up 33 million out of 61 million deaths worldwide, which is 54% of the total.
Eight of these ten were noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and they alone caused 47% of all deaths.
Ischaemic heart disease led to 9.5 million deaths in 2023, which is about 16% of deaths worldwide.
Since 2000, deaths from this disease have increased by 3 million, the biggest rise among all causes.
Stroke was the second leading cause, with about 6.8 million deaths (11%), followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 3.6 million (6%).
Lower respiratory infections were fourth and became the world's deadliest communicable disease again, killing 2.7 million people, which is back to pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were the fifth leading cause, with 2.1 million deaths. Two-thirds of those who died were women.
Diabetes was sixth, causing 2 million deaths, which is more than twice the number in 2000.
Lung cancers were seventh, with deaths rising from 1.1 million in 2000 to 1.8 million.
Kidney diseases moved from seventeenth to ninth place, with deaths increasing by 86% since 2000.
Covid-19 falls away, HIV deaths decline
Covid-19 was the top cause of death worldwide in 2021, with about 9.4 million deaths. By 2023, direct deaths dropped to 0.9 million, making it the fourteenth leading cause.
HIV/AIDS deaths have dropped by 62% since 2000, moving from seventh to twenty-second place.
What it means for Bangladesh
Bangladesh is in the World Bank's lower-middle-income group, where the WHO reports a mixed disease burden.
In this group, five of the top ten causes of death were NCDs, four were communicable, maternal, neonatal, or nutritional conditions, and one was road injury.
Between 2000 and 2023, deaths from ischaemic heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease roughly doubled. These now rank in the top three.
Diabetes moved from fifteenth to fifth place, with deaths more than tripling.
Tuberculosis and diarrhoeal diseases are still in the top 10 for this group, but deaths from both have dropped by more than half over the period.
However, the WHO report does not provide country-level figures for Bangladesh.
A sharp divide between rich and poor nations
The report shows big differences by income level.
In low-income countries, seven of the top ten causes of death were communicable diseases, with lower respiratory infections leading for most years since about 2010.
Annual deaths from the disease have exceeded 350,000 throughout 2000-2023, with no notable downward trend.
In upper-middle-income countries, lung cancer deaths more than doubled, with 520,000 more deaths.
Covid-19 is still in the top 10 only in this group.
In high-income countries, NCDs made up nine of the ten leading causes of death.
Deaths from heart disease and stroke fell by 18% and 26%, respectively, since 2000, though dementia deaths nearly quadrupled and it became the third leading cause of death.
Data gaps persist
The WHO emphasized that reliable mortality data is crucial for setting health priorities, allocating resources, and making policies in areas like transport, food, agriculture, and environmental protection.
However, it noted that data collection remains a major challenge, especially in many low-income countries where systems are often fragmented, incomplete, or inconsistent.
