fatality rate

noun

plural fatality rates

: the number of deaths from a specific cause

Last year, South Carolina had the nation's third-highest highway fatality rate, with 1,064 people killed in wrecks on the state's roads.

—Joseph S. Stroud

McGuire is a practitioner of what he calls the king of all extreme sports. BASE—an acronym for building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliffs)—jumping has one of the sporting world's highest fatality rates: in its 18-year history, 46 participants have been killed.

—Karl Taro Greenfield

specifically : case fatality rate

Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children.

—James C. Riley

Examples of fatality rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Given the fatality rate of measles—1 in 1000 infected persons will die as a result—the impact of this will be felt acutely in both the general population and more so, in the undervaccinated groups. —Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025

These outbreaks range from 20 to more than 800 victims, with fatality rates of over 30% in some instances. —Vanessa Etienne, People.com, 28 Jan. 2025

Compare that to the road fatality rate of one in 1.19 million. —Laura Begley Bloom, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025

Since the 1960s, the US has seen rapid, dramatic progress in cutting its car fatality rate, and 2007 was the last year that over 40,000 Americans were killed by our car-dependent transportation system — until the Covid-19 pandemic. —Dylan Matthews, Vox, 2 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fatality rate

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate

Medical Definition

fatality rate

noun

: the number of deaths from a specific cause

… the inclusion of air bags and other design improvements in vehicles, the use of seat belts and even the increasing maturity of the driving population have combined to lower the fatality rate on U. S. highways by 29 percent since 1987.

—Stefan Thomke et al., Scientific American

specifically : case fatality rate

Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children.

—James C. Riley, The American Historical Review