Page 563 - Sociology and You

Chapter 16 Population and Urbanization
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Mortality
Mortality refers to death. To analyze patterns of mortality within a pop- ulation,sociologistslookatlifespanandlifeexpectancy.Lifespanisthe most advanced age to which humans can survive. We know for sure of a Japanese man who lived nearly 121 years, but few people even approach this age. Life expectancy is the average number of years that persons in a given population born at a particular time can expect to live. World life expectancy is sixty-seven years (World Population Data Sheet, 2001).
How is mortality measured? The crude death rate is figured by divid- ing the annual number of deaths by the total population and multiplying by 1,000. Like the crude birth rate, the crude death rate varies widely throughout the world. The worldwide average crude death rate is nine per one thousand persons. Looking at specific regions of the world, the death rate varies from a low of six per thousand in Latin America to a high of fourteen per thousand in Africa and Hungary. The death rate in the United States is about nine per thousand (World Population Data Sheet, 2001).
Demographers are also interested in the variations in death rates for specific groups. They have devised age-specific death rates to measure the number of deaths per thousand persons in a specific age group, such as fifteen- to nine- teen-year-olds or sixty- to sixty-four-year-olds. This allows them to compare the risk of death to members of different groups. Although death eventually comes to everyone, the rate at which it occurs depends on many factors, including age, sex, race, occupation, social class, standard of living, and health care.
Theinfantmortalityrate—thenumberofdeathsamonginfantsunder one year of age per one thousand live births—is considered a good indicator of the health status of any group. This is because infants are the first to suffer
mortality
deathswithinapopulation
life span
the most advanced age to which humans can survive
life expectancy
the average number of years that persons in a given population born at a particular time can expect to live
crude death rate
the annual number of deaths per thousand members of a population
infantmortalityrate
the annual number of deaths among infants under one year of age per one thousand live births
This Brazilian mother attends a local clinic to get health care for her infant.