fatality rate

noun

plural fatality rates

: the number of deaths from a specific cause

Last year, South Carolina had the nation's third-highest highway fatality rate, with 1,064 people killed in wrecks on the state's roads.

—Joseph S. Stroud

McGuire is a practitioner of what he calls the king of all extreme sports. BASE—an acronym for building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliffs)—jumping has one of the sporting world's highest fatality rates: in its 18-year history, 46 participants have been killed.

—Karl Taro Greenfield

specifically : case fatality rate

Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children.

—James C. Riley

Examples of fatality rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In 2024, an analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle fatality rate data found that, actually, Tesla was the deadliest brand of car on sale in the US. —ArsTechnica, 23 Apr. 2025

The outlet found a 32 percent fatality rate for that portion of the aircraft. —Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2024

The chances of dying in a commercial airline crash is miniscule, with a fatality rate of 17 deaths per billion passengers, according to the latest safety report by the International Civil Aviation Organization. —Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes.com, 21 May 2025

Deadly rush hour driving North Carolina ranked in the top 10 in urban fatality rate, but previous data show that the deadliest city in the nation for rush hour driving is right here in the Tar Heel state, The Charlotte Observer reported. —Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 21 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fatality rate

• borosilicate
• decontaminate
• deoxycholate
• deteriorate
• differentiate
• diisocyanate
• dinoflagellate
• excommunicate
• incapacitate
• insubordinate
• intercorporate
• interpenetrate

Medical Definition

fatality rate

noun

: the number of deaths from a specific cause

… the inclusion of air bags and other design improvements in vehicles, the use of seat belts and even the increasing maturity of the driving population have combined to lower the fatality rate on U. S. highways by 29 percent since 1987.

—Stefan Thomke et al., Scientific American

specifically : case fatality rate

Dysentery, in which fatality rates in untreated cases range as high as 50 percent, is especially dangerous to children.

—James C. Riley, The American Historical Review