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 mortality rate for orca calves in their first year is around 50 percent, according to the . —Tom Howarth, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025

Well, the World Health Organization estimates that, in prior outbreaks of the bird flu, that the mortality rate is 52 percent, 52 percent. —CBS News, 29 Dec. 2024

While mortality from breast cancer has been decreasing in white, Hispanic and Black women, AAPI women have had stable mortality rates despite improvements in treatments in the last decade. —Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 13 Dec. 2024

The rural pockets of endemic disease that have been neglected for decades have higher mortality rates and could always ignite another epidemic. —Byjon Cohen, science.org, 9 Dec. 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