MORTALITY TRENDS

• Trends in national mortality rates •  

Graphs showing time trends in mortality rates

Population of the 10 most populous countries,

children (aged less than 15 years): 1950-2010

Graph showing population of 10 largest countries in world, children

Notes: China's population of children grew even more rapidly between 1950 and the mid-1970s than did India's—by an average 2.8 percent a year compared with India's 2.3 percent. But the growth started to declerate in 1974, and the population peaked in 1976 before then starting to decline. The population was overtaken by India's in 1989, and in 2005 there were a third fewer children in China than in India. China introduced a formal one-child policy in 1979.

Source of data: United Nations Population Division, "World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision".

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