MORTALITY TRENDS

• Trends in national mortality rates •  

Graphs showing time trends in mortality rates

All-cause mortality at age 15-34 years in

Sweden: 1860-2007

Graph showing all-cause mortality at age 15-34 years in Sweden since 1860

Colours: The coloured curves represent Swedish males (blue) and females (red); for comparison, the light grey curves represent males (generally the upper upper grey curve) and females (generally the lower) in England & Wales.

Comment: Whereas mortality among young adults in England and Wales halved between 1860 and 1910, in Sweden it was much the same in 1910 as a half century earlier. The 1918 flu epidemic increased young-adult mortality to levels last recorded in Sweden during the Napoleonic wars. Sweden was neutral in both world wars.

Method: Mortality rates were downloaded from the Human Mortality Database (see www.mortality.org or www.humanmortality.de) on 4 December 2009. The plotted lines connect unsmoothed values.

WHO mortality rates for particular countries, ages and causes of death