What Does mortality rate Mean
The mortality rate is known as 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). It is common to refer to this demographic indicator as the crude mortality rate or simply as mortality .
It is also important to note that mortality rates are inversely related to life expectancy at the time of arrival in the world: the higher the life expectancy, the lower the mortality rate. In developing nations there is a higher mortality rate than in developed countries.
A mortality rate is usually considered to be high when it is above 30%; moderate if it oscillates between 15% and 30%; and low if it does not exceed 15%. Globally, mortality related to malnutrition is primarily responsible for the highest death rates.
In developed countries, on the other hand, 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 for every 1,000 children born alive that have been registered, during the first twelve months of existence.
Finally, the so-called specific mortality rate 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 due to a certain disease among those who suffer from it at a specific time and region.
War and the infant mortality rate
According to various studies carried out by researchers, the infant mortality rate is an important indicator of the health status of a people . Under the acronym TMI, this statistic indicates the number of deaths of children under one year of age that takes place in a given country; taking into account a base of 1,000 babies born. This calculation is made taking into account the number of births that occurred in a given 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 man-made 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 likely to get sick, the most vulnerable, etc.
In the case of poor countries , they generally do not have a preventive infrastructure to safeguard children's health and, on the other hand, they do not have the necessary food resources to provide them with everything they need to grow up healthy.
In countries at war , thousands of children are killed each year by attacks on their homes by the invading army, or by 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 an index of 2.9, followed closely 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.