In its general sense, mortality is the condition or quality of mortality that all living beings possess. In a more specific sense, mortality is the death rate produced in a territory in a given period.
In demographic studies, mortality is complemented by the concept of birth and migration, whose indexes allow evaluating population growth.
Types of mortality
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mortality refers to the number and cause of deaths produced in a place and a time interval. In this sense, mortality is discriminated according to the following types:
- Mortality due to endogenous causes:groups those deaths caused by genetic conditions of individuals. For example, birth trauma, birth defects, autoimmune diseases, or aging.
- Mortality from exogenous causes:refers to deaths caused by factors external to the subject. For example, infectious or parasitic diseases, accidents, violence or starvation.
Mortality rate
The calculation of the number of general deaths produced within a place and a period of time is called the gross mortality rate or general mortality rate . Normally, the number of deaths per thousand inhabitants in a year is taken as a reference.
One can also speak of a specific mortality rate . In this case, the mortality rate is limited to the number of deaths within a population with shared characteristics. For example , mortality by sex (female and male mortality) and mortality by age (for example, infant mortality).
When mortality responds to disease factors, we speak of morbidity and mortality, in which case, the morbidity and mortality rate is defined as the mortality rate caused by illness.
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- Morbidity
- Birth
- Birth rate
Formula to calculate the mortality rate
The mortality rate is calculated from the following formula: M = F / P * 10n , where,
- M is mortality rate;
- F is the number of deaths in a period of time (for example, one year);
- P is the total number of people;
- 10 nis the conversion factor expressed in units (for example, per thousand or one hundred thousand inhabitants.
In other words, the formula for mortality is:
- mortality = number of deaths in a year / the total number of people per 1000.
For example , Mexico’s mortality rate in 2018 closed at 5.4 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants.
