Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported the number of demographic data in 2016. According to it, top 10 causes of death in 2016 are the below.
| Rank | Cause | Cause | Cause | Number of deaths |
| 1 | 悪性新生物 | Malignant neoplasm | Cancer | 372,986 |
| 2 | 心疾患 | Cardiac disease | Heart disease | 198,006 |
| 3 | 肺炎 | Pneumonia | Lung disease | 119,300 |
| 4 | 脳血管疾患 | Cerebrovascular disease | Brain vessel damage | 109,320 |
| 5 | 老衰 | Senility | Die of old age | 92,806 |
| 6 | 不慮の事故 | Freak accident | Accident | 38,306 |
| 7 | 腎不全 | Renal failure | Kidney disease | 24,612 |
| 8 | 自殺 | Suicide | Suicide | 21,017 |
| 9 | 大動脈瘤及び大動脈解離 | Aortic dissection and aortic aneurysm | Damage of Aorta | 18,145 |
| 10 | 肝疾患 | Liver disease | Liver disease | 15,773 |
Source is Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. 人口動態調査
www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/kakutei16/index.html
www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/kakutei16/xls/hyo.xls
