Death Rate

The death rate is a statistic that allows us to analyze either the total number of deaths or the number of deaths due to a specific cause in a defined population over a particular period of time. Death rates are usually expressed in terms of 1,000 or 100,000 population.

The most basic concept of a death rate is the crude death rate, the total number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population over a period of time. So, for instance, if there are 600 deaths per year in a population of 100,000, the crude death rate will be 600/100,000, or 6/1,000. While the crude death rate gives some indication of the mortality profile of a country, it can be misleading. For instance, the crude death rate of Sweden might be higher than that of Haiti, despite longer life expectancy for each individual than in Haiti, because Sweden's population is older, on average, and thus each individual is more likely to die in any given year. In order to gain a true sense of the overall mor [Page 481]tality picture, one must instead use an age-adjusted death rate, which compares two rates as if they were based on the same population, or a life table which tabulates life expectancies at every age.

The death rate analyzes either the total number of deaths or the number of deaths due to a specific cause over a period of time.

In addition to the age profile of a nation, other factors that strongly influence the death rate are the rates of infant mortality (the number of deaths of children less than 1 year old/1,000 live births), child mortality, maternal mortality (the number of deaths due to childbearing/100,000 live births), overall nutritional standards, hygiene levels, access to medical care, access to safe drinking water, and overall levels of infectious disease.