Pneumonia was the leading cause of death among Malaysians the year before, claiming 18,181 lives.

The department said a total of 198,992 deaths were reported last year, of which 133,844 were medically certified and 65,148 were not.

This was a significant increase from the 119,652 medically certified deaths recorded in 2023.

Heart disease caused 17,421 deaths, or 13% of medically certified deaths, while pneumonia caused 15,332 deaths, followed by diabetes (6,929) and transport accidents (4,428).

The department said the number of deaths from cancer has been on the rise since 2001, from 5,231 reported that year to 19,180 last year.

The bulk of these cases involve cancer of digestive organs with 5,825 deaths, followed by ear, respiratory or intrathoracic organs (2,987) and breast (2,173).

Heart disease was the main killer of men, causing 12,112 deaths or 15.3%, while pneumonia killed more women at 6,776 or 12.4%.

Heart disease was also the leading cause of death among the Malay and Indian communities at 10,291 (13.9%) and 2,161 (17.6%) respectively.

Pneumonia meanwhile caused 4,231 deaths among the Chinese (12.7%) and 1,016 among other Bumiputera communities (9.7%).

Transport accidents were the main cause of death for Malaysians aged 15 to 40, making up 20%, while heart disease accounted for 17.6% of deaths among those aged 41 to 59.

For those aged 60 and above as well as newborns to children aged 14, pneumonia was the leading cause of death at a rate of 13.9% and 5.6%, respectively.