Data source
Data on deaths are from the
World Health Organization
(WHO; 2024 revision) and population data are from the
United Nations Population Division
(UNPD; 2022 revision). For some countries, mortality rates are calculated using population data from WHO instead of UNPD (for example, where there is any discrepancy between the UNPD population and the population from which the WHO deaths were derived). Where this is the case, it has been indicated in the footnote of the graph.
ICD codes
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes can be used to provide information on the extent, causes and consequences of morbidity and mortality. Mortality rates in this website use the underlying cause of death coded using the
7th, 8th, 9th or 10th
edition of the ICD. Vertical dotted lines on the graphs indicate a change of ICD edition, which may vary between countries. The ICD codes for the different causes of death are given in a separate tab.
Graphs
Most of this website's graphs show time trends in mortality rates. For each calendar year, a mortality rate was calculated as the number of deaths divided by the number of people in the relevant population, and then multiplied by 100,000. The relevant population was all those people who would have been counted among the deaths had they died in that year. Thus, the population is only of males if the deaths were male, and only of people aged 60-69 years if the deaths were at this age. Mortality rates were standardised for age by taking the unweighted mean of the component 5-year rates. For example, the rate for age 60-69 years is the unweighted mean of the rates for 60-64 and 65-69 years. All-cause mortality rates standardised in this way can be used to calculate the probability of death in a particular age band, as follows: P = 1 -
e-Y.R/100,000
where Y is the number of years in the age band, R/100,000 is the age-standardised mortality rate expressed as annual deaths per 100,000, and P is the probability that a person at the very start of the age band would die before reaching its end if R were to obtain throughout the whole period. For example, the age-standardised all-causes mortality rate for UK men at age 50-59 in 2015 was 487.8 per 100,000, so the probability of a 50-year old man dying before 60 was, at 2015 mortality rates, 4.8%. The corresponding probability for UK women was (based on a rate of 325.1 per 100,000) 3.2%. These probabilities ('risk') is plotted on the y-axis on the right hand side of the graph. Where there is gap in the line joining annual rates, the rate for the given year(s) is not available in the selected age group.
Age group formats for breakdown of deaths at ages 0 to 95 years and above
WHO Data Annex Table 1
Countries not using standard age groups (Format code 00) use groups which are formed by combining two or more complete age groups of the standard age groups. In such cases the data is recorded under the first of the combined age groups; the unused part is left blank.
(downloaded from
WHO Mortality Database - WHO)