mortality rate

noun

plural mortality rates

: the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and during a particular time period : the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year) that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals : death rate

an annual mortality rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people

Note: A crude mortality rate does not distinguish between specific causes of death or groups of individuals and measures the incidence of all deaths in a population during a given time period. More specific mortality rates are based on narrower categories of individuals or causes of death.

an infant mortality rate of 9 deaths per 1000 live births

mortality rates of lung cancer patients

infectious disease mortality rates

Examples of mortality rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The protocol is the United Way’s second major program to tackle Tarrant County’s high maternal mortality rate. —Ciara McCarthy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 May 2024

In the past decade, the mortality rate in the state’s jails has been the highest in the country. —Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker, 9 May 2024

San Diego County jails have recorded one of the highest mortality rates across California for years. —Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2024

That’s despite the fact that the Biden Administration is trying to lower maternal mortality rates by urging more hospitals to operate the kind of maternity ward that Jesanna Cooper helped build in Birmingham. —TIME, 7 May 2024

There continue to be enormous racial disparities in the U.S. maternal mortality rate as well – the rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,00 births in 2022, compared to a rate of 19 deaths for white women. —Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR, 2 May 2024

Women 40 and over had the highest maternal mortality rate at 87.1 deaths per 100,000 births. —Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, 2 May 2024

After years on the rise, the U.S. maternal mortality rate decreased in 2022, new government data show. —Elizabeth Cohen, STAT, 2 May 2024

Maternal mortality rates in the United States fell in 2022 after at least three years of continuous increases, new federal data shows. —Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 1 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

mortality rate

noun

: the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and during a particular time period : the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year) that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals : death rate

an annual mortality rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people

Note: A crude mortality rate does not distinguish between specific causes of death or groups of individuals and measures the incidence of all deaths in a population during a given time period. More specific mortality rates are based on narrower categories of individuals or causes of death.

mortality rates of liver cancer patients

an infant mortality rate of 9 deaths per 1000 live births