The mortality rate indicates the number of deaths per thousand citizens in a certain period of time.
An index created to reflect the number of deaths per thousand citizens of a given community in a specific period of time (usually twelve months) is known as the mortality rate . It is common to mention this demographic indicator as the crude mortality rate or, simply, as mortality .
It is also important to highlight that mortality rates are inversely linked to life expectancy at the time of entering the world: the longer the life expectancy, the lower the mortality rate. In developing nations there is a higher mortality rate compared to developed countries.
Different mortality rates
A mortality rate is usually considered high when it is above 30%; moderate if it ranges between 15% and 30%; and lower if it does not exceed 15%. Globally, malnutrition-related mortality is primarily responsible for the highest mortality rates.
In developed countries, however, the main causes of mortality are tumors, diseases of the circulatory system and diseases of the respiratory system.
The infant mortality rate , on the other hand, is the index that shows the number of deaths per 1,000 children born alive that have been registered, during the first twelve months of existence.
The so-called specific mortality rate , finally, is a proportion that indicates how many subjects die for a specific reason during a specific period of time. The intensity of mortality means that the rate can be expressed per 1,000, per 10,000 or even per 100,000 citizens. The fatality rate is the percentage of individuals who lose their lives from a given disease among those who suffer from it at a specific time and region.
Various factors affect the mortality rate of a region.
The incidence of war on child deaths
According to various studies developed by researchers, the infant mortality rate is an important indicator of the health status of a town . Under the acronym TMI , this statistic indicates the number of deaths of children under one year of age that take place in a given country; taking into account a base of 1,000 babies born. This calculation is carried out taking into account the number of births that occurred in a place in a certain period and the deaths that occurred in that same time.
Some of the causes that can significantly influence a country's infant mortality rate are natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, and human-caused disasters such as civil unrest and war .
It is worth mentioning that the infant mortality rate is usually higher in underdeveloped countries or countries that are going through a war; This is because they are the most defenseless beings of the species, the most prone to getting sick, the most vulnerable, etc.
Analysis of infant mortality rate
In the case of poor countries , they generally do not have a preventive infrastructure to safeguard the health of children and, on the other hand, they do not have the necessary food resources to provide them with everything necessary to grow up healthy.
In countries that are at war , thousands of children die every year as victims of attacks on their homes by the invading army, or from being in a place that suddenly becomes a battlefield; and, in the most terrifying cases, because they are summoned to fight and perish in combat.
Currently the country with the lowest infant mortality rate is Iceland with a rate of 2.9, closely followed by Singapore and Japan , with 3 and 3.2 respectively; while the countries with the highest index are Sierra Leone with 160.3 and Afghanistan with 157. These data are derived from censuses carried out by the United Nations.