Mortality rate

[2] According to the World Health Organization, the ten leading causes of death, globally, in 2016, for both sexes and all ages, were as presented in the table below.

Development of medical science and other technologies has resulted in the decrease of mortality rate in all the countries of the world for some decades.

Mortality rates are usually difficult to predict due to language barriers, health infrastructure related issues, conflict, and other reasons.

Maternal mortality has additional challenges, especially as they pertain to stillbirths, abortions, and multiple births.

In most countries, however, a stillbirth was defined as "the birth of a fetus, after 28 weeks of pregnancy, in which pulmonary respiration does not occur".

[12] Widowhood surveys estimate adult mortality by responding to questions about the deceased husband or wife.

One limitation of the widowhood survey surrounds the issues of divorce, where people may be more likely to report that they are widowed in places where there is the great social stigma around being a divorcee.

Biases will be significant if the association of death between spouses, such as those in countries with large AIDS epidemics.

According to Jean Ziegler (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for 2000 to March 2008), mortality due to malnutrition accounted for 58% of the total mortality in 2006: "In the world, approximately 62 million people, all causes of death combined, die each year.

Poor health can in turn contribute to low and reduced incomes, which can create a loop known as the health-poverty trap.

[21] Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen has stated that mortality rates can serve as an indicator of economic success and failure.

[22][23]: 27, 32 Historically, mortality rates have been adversely affected by short term price increases.

[23]: 35–36, 70 In more recent times, higher mortality rates have been less tied to socio-economic levels within a given society, but have differed more between low and high-income countries.

More children die of malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhea, perinatal conditions, and measles in developing nations.

Data shows that after the age of 5 these preventable causes level out between high and low-income countries.

Mortality rate of countries, deaths per thousand
Scatter plot of the natural logarithm (ln) of the crude death rate against the natural log of per capita GDP. [ clarification needed ] [ currency needs to be stated. ] The slope of the trend line is the elasticity of the crude death rate with respect to per capita income. [ citation needed ] It indicates that as of the date of the basis data set, [ when? ] an increase in per capita income tends to be associated with a decrease in the crude death rate. [ citation needed ] Source: World Development Indicators. [ full citation needed ]