MORTALITY TRENDS

• Trends in national mortality rates •  

Graphs showing time trends in mortality rates

Male category-specific mortality at age 50-59 years in

the United Kingdom: 1950-2007

Graph showing category-specific mortality at age 50-59 years in the UK, 1950-2007.

Comment: UK male mortality at age 50-59 years fell by 42% between 1967 and 2007. This corresponds to an absolute decline of 699 yearly deaths per 100 000 men in this age range, some 46% of which is attributable to a decrease in coronary heart disease, 9% to a decrease in stroke, 17% to a decrease in lung cancer, 6% to a decrease in all other cancers combined, 9% to a decrease in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and 2% to a decrease in motor vehicle crashes. Mortality from liver cirrhosis increased over this period by a factor of 6. Vascular mortality overtook cancer mortality, on their respective downward trajectories, in 2001.

Categories: For descriptions of what the categories mean, and examples of the causes of death they include, see the Information about Causes of Death page.

Method: Mortality rates calculated using data from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Population Division, then standardised for age (by taking unweighted averages of component rates) and smoothed (as weighted 3-year moving averages). For details, see the Info page.

Caution: Trends can reflect not only changes in disease occurrence or treatment, but also changes in how a cause of death is defined or coded.

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