Old-age cataract is the No. 1 cause of hospitalization for Koreans...No. 1 birth 10 years ago dropped to No. 5
Jun 09, 2025
|
Birth, which was No. 1 10 years ago, fell to No. 5, and cataracts due to aging rose from No. 3 to No. 1.
According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's 2024 frequent disease statistics, the highest number of health insurance hospitalized patients last year was 'old cataract', an ophthalmic disease in which objects appear to be foggy due to aging or damage to the lens in the eye. Last year, 337,270 patients were hospitalized and treated for cataracts, an increase of more than 80,000 from 251,008 in 2014, which was ranked third. 'Pneumonia of unknown pathogens'(308,287),'Other gastroenteritis of infectious and unknown origins'(244,125),'Other intervertebral disc disorders'(222,212) ranked second to fourth in hospitalization.
Ten years ago, in 2014, 373,597 people were hospitalized, ranking first in the number of hospitalized sicknesses, 'survival births according to birthplace' (the name of sickness given to newborn babies) ranked fifth with 207,398 last year.
This figure reflects the impact of low birth rate aging. Analysts say that the number of births in 10 years has rapidly decreased from 430,000 in 2014 to about 240,000 last year, and the elderly population has rapidly increased, resulting in a change in the ranking of hospitalization causes. As of December 23 last year, Korea officially entered a super-aged society with about 10.24 million people aged 65 or older, exceeding 20% of the total population (51.22 million). This year, 20.6% of the population aged 65 or older is expected to reach, 30% in 2035 and 40% in 2050.
Meanwhile, the disease with the highest health insurance medical expenses from inpatient treatment last year was Alzheimer's dementia, which cost 1.8694 trillion won. It was followed by cerebral infarction, pneumonia of an unknown pathogen, and knee arthroplasty.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
