Archive · 11 Aug 2026
Heart disease leads Maharashtra deaths; cancer share exceeds national rate
A report looked at all the deaths in Maharashtra that doctors officially recorded in 2024.
It found that heart disease caused the most deaths in the state.
More than one out of every three people who died had heart-related problems.
Across all of India, heart disease is even more common as a cause of death.
But in Maharashtra, cancer caused more deaths than in the rest of the country.
Cancer was the reason for about 8 out of every 100 deaths in the state.
The report also shows that metabolic diseases and injuries caused more deaths in Maharashtra than in India as a whole.
These numbers help doctors and leaders understand what health problems people in the state face.
This can help them decide how to keep people healthier.
Heart disease, or diseases of the circulatory system, was the biggest killer among medically certified deaths in Maharashtra in 2024.
Of 3,27,174 medically certified deaths in the state, circulatory diseases accounted for 30.8 per cent, or 1,00,878 deaths.
Nationally, circulatory diseases made up a larger share of medically certified deaths at 38.8 per cent, per data from the Office of Registrar General of India.
Cancer accounted for 8.1 per cent of Maharashtra's medically certified deaths (26,492 deaths), compared with 5 per cent nationally.
Cancer, metabolic diseases and injuries accounted for a substantially larger share of deaths in Maharashtra than they did across India.
- Who
- Residents of Maharashtra, India, and the Office of Registrar General of India (ORGI), which released the data.
- What
- Heart disease remained the leading cause of medically certified deaths in Maharashtra in 2024, while cancer, metabolic diseases and injuries had a larger share of deaths in the state than nationally.
- When
- In 2024, with the data released last month.
- Where
- Maharashtra, India.
- Why
- The mortality profile raised concern because cancer, metabolic diseases and injuries accounted for a substantially larger share of deaths in Maharashtra than they did across India.
- Total medically certified deaths (Maharashtra)
- 3,27,174 in 2024
- Circulatory disease deaths (Maharashtra)
- 1,00,878 (30.8%)
- Circulatory disease deaths (national share)
- 38.8%
- Cancer deaths (Maharashtra)
- 26,492 (8.1%)
- Cancer deaths (national share)
- 5%
- Data source
- Office of Registrar General of India (ORGI)
- Other notable causes in Maharashtra
- Cancer, metabolic diseases and injuries (larger share than nationally)