death rate

noun

Definition of death rate

: the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and time

Examples of death rate in a Sentence

There was a decline in the country's death rate after its health care improved. Lung cancer death rates are up. The death rate from accidents is rising.

Recent Examples on the Web

The hospital started patients on antibiotics and fluids immediately after a sepsis diagnosis — and death rates plummeted. — Karen Weintraub, STAT, "Sepsis is the third leading cause of death. Can a new blood test change that?," 3 July 2018 Few studies have reported meaningful data on recurrence, metastasis or prostate cancer-specific death rates with robotic prostatectomy. — WSJ, "Is Robotic Prostate Surgery Better Than Traditional Surgery?," 24 June 2018 Transnational criminal groups have carved out physical territory, and violent death rates rival those of countries at war. — Whitney Eulich, The Christian Science Monitor, "After asylum limits, some ask: Does 'gang violence' need a new name?," 14 June 2018 Before 2013, the total death rate among the same age group had declined 33 percent since 1999. — Fiza Pirani, ajc, "What’s killing America’s teens? Inside CDC’s new mortality report," 2 June 2018 The death rate among kids aged 10 to 19 was 33.1 deaths per 100,000 children in 2016, up from 29.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2013, according to the report. — Dennis Thompson, CBS News, "Why are deaths among U.S. kids, teens on the rise?," 1 June 2018 Still, as the death rates have risen, so have the prosecutions. — Aubrey Whelan, Philly.com, "To fight opioid overdoses in a rural Pa. county, prosecutors charge drug dealers," 11 May 2018 Nineteen and a half years later, Garfield Park is 99 percent black, more than 40 percent live in poverty, the early birth and death rates still soar, and Laverne Williams is a statistic, having contributed to both. — Aimee Levitt, Chicago Reader, "Archive Dive / News / Poverty / Segregation The life and death of Laverne Williams," 26 Apr. 2018 The flu continues to generate a larger-than-average number of cases though the death rate and impact on emergency departments continues to trend downward, according to the county’s latest weekly influenza report released Wednesday. — Paul Sisson, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Flu update: Cases rise slightly as season continues to look less deadly," 7 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'death rate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

8 Nov 2018

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The first known use of death rate was in 1849

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More Definitions for death rate

death rate

noun

English Language Learners Definition of death rate

: a number that shows how many people died in a particular place or during a particular time

: the number of deaths from a specific cause in a particular area during a particular time period

See the full definition for death rate in the English Language Learners Dictionary

death rate

noun

Medical Definition of death rate

: a measure of the number of deaths in a specified population during a particular time period After five years, those receiving the drug suffered 32 percent fewer fatal heart attacks, and their overall death rate was 22 percent lower than that of the men who were given the placebo.— Isadore Rosenfeld, Vogue, February 1996 Ebola is infamous for being highly contagious and causing death rates as high as 90 percent in some human outbreaks.— Brendan Borrell, Scientific American, September 2009