The number of deaths last year jumped over 17 percent on-year to hit an all-time record due largely to COVID-19 and an aging society.

According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, there were 372-thousand-939 deaths in 2022, the largest since the state agency began compiling related data in 1970.

The average daily number of deaths stood at a record high of one-thousand-22, while the crude death rate, or the number of deaths in a year per one-thousand population, also posted a record of 727-point-six.

The largest portion at 53-point-eight percent were those aged 80 or above, up 17 percentage points from a decade ago.

Cancer was the number one cause with 83-thousand-378 deaths, followed by cardiac disorders with 33-thousand-715 deaths and COVID-19 with 31-thousand-280 deaths, with the three causes taking up 39-point-eight of total deaths.

In the case of COVID-19, deaths from the viral infection increased by more than fivefold on-year, outnumbering pneumonia on the list for cause of deaths.