Mortality rate
|
Crude death rate by country |
Mortality rate (the word
mortality comes from
mortal, which originates from
Latin mors,
death) is the number of deaths (from a disease or in general) per 1000 people and typically reported on an
annual basis. It is distinct from
morbidity rate, which refers to the number of people who have a disease compared to the total number of people in a population.
One distinguishes:# The
crude death rate, the total number of deaths per 1000 people.# The
perinatal mortality rate, the sum of neonatal deaths and fetal deaths (stillbirths) per 1,000 births.# The
maternal mortality rate, the number of maternal deaths due to childbearing per 100,000 live births.# The
infant mortality rate, the number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per thousand live births.# The
standardised mortality rate (SMR) or
age-specific mortality rate (ASMR) - This refers to the total number of deaths per 1000 people of a given age (e.g. 16-65 or 65+).
In regard to the
success or
failure medical treatment or
procedures, one would also distinguish:# The
early mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the early stages of an ongoing treatment, or in the period immediately following an
acute treatment.# The
late mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the late stages of an ongoing treatment, or a significant length of time after an acute treatment.
Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population can give a misleading impression. For example, the number of deaths per 1000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite standards of health being better in developed countries. This is because developed countries have relatively more older people, who are more likely to die in a given year, so that the overall mortality rate can be higher even if the mortality rate at any given age is lower. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a
life table which summarises mortality separately at each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of
life expectancy.
|
The international levels of infant mortality, depicted as the number of deaths in a thousand births. |
The ten countries with the highest
infant mortality rate are:#
Angola 192.50 #
Afghanistan 165.96 #
Sierra Leone 145.24 #
Mozambique 137.08 #
Liberia 130.51 #
Niger 122.66 #
Somalia 118.52 #
Mali 117.99 #
Tajikistan 112.10 #
Guinea-Bissau 108.72
According to the
CDC, the 10 leading causes of death in the United States in 2002 were:
# 696,447
Heart disease# 557,197 Malignant
Neoplasms (i.e.
cancer)# 162,555
Cerebrovascular disease# 124,777 Chronic low.
respiratory disease# 105,796 Unintentional
injury# 73,248
Diabetes mellitus# 65,418
Influenza &
pneumonia# 58,866
Alzheimer's disease# 40,801
Nephritis# 33,569
Septicemia(out of a total population of 283,974,000 people in the U.S. at least 1 year old)
*Nutrition levels
*Standards of diet and housing
*Access to clean drinking water
*Hygiene levels
*Levels of infectious diseases
*[https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2066rank.html CIA World Factbook -- Rank Order - Death rate]
*
Mortality - The Medical Dictionary by Medterms *
"10 Leading Causes of Death, United States" from the Center for Disease Control*
Edmond Halley, An Estimate of the Degrees of the Mortality of Mankind (1693).*
Birth rate*
Compensation law of mortality*
Demography*
Gompertz-Makeham law of mortality*
Life expectancy*
List of causes of death by rate*
List of countries by death rate*
Maximum life span*
Morbidity
