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

The fatality rate fell in early 2024, but was still higher for that three-month period than in any pre-pandemic year since 2008. —David Shepardson, Detroit Free Press, 19 Nov. 2024

In some outbreaks, the fatality rates have been as high as 50%, Walkes said. —Nicole Villalpando, Austin American-Statesman, 15 June 2024

The Shanghai-born, Australian national has been a high-profile advocate for expanding access to clinical trials as a means to lower cancer fatality rates. —Russell Flannery, Forbes, 25 Nov. 2024

That’s compared to a 0.2% global fatality rate for the 2022 outbreak. —Aria Bendix, NBC News, 16 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

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