Tuberculosis is still the country's biggest killer in the country, but for the second year in a row the absolute number of deaths in South Africa has fallen, Statistics South Africa reports.

In 2008 there were 592,073 deaths which is less than the 603,094 deaths in 2007. According to Stats SA deaths peaked at 612,778 in 2006.

According to the report released by the Statistician-General Pali Lehohla, while TB was recorded as the leading cause of death on the documentation viewed by the statisticians, it did not mean that there were other underlying causes of deaths.

In 2008 there were 74,863 deaths attributable to TB, followed by 45,602 deaths where influenza and pneumonia were recorded as the cause of death.

Intestinal infectious diseases was third with 39,351 deaths.

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