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

But even if the true number of cases — the denominator — is five times as high, said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, a mortality rate of 10% would be devastating if the bird flu virus evolved to spread swiftly between people. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 29 Oct. 2024

Black women have suffered a maternal mortality rate more than three times that of white women in California, state data show. —Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024

Black women, similarly, experience a 38% higher mortality rate despite a 5% lower incidence. —Sarah Scott, Verywell Health, 28 Oct. 2024

Black counties also suffered from far greater mortality rates during lockdown than did other racial groups, with several reporting Black individuals accounted for 60 to 70% of all COVID deaths. —London School Of Economics, Forbes, 9 Oct. 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