mortality rate

noun

plural mortality rates

: the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and during a particular time period : the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year) that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals : death rate

an annual mortality rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people

Note: A crude mortality rate does not distinguish between specific causes of death or groups of individuals and measures the incidence of all deaths in a population during a given time period. More specific mortality rates are based on narrower categories of individuals or causes of death.

an infant mortality rate of 9 deaths per 1000 live births

mortality rates of lung cancer patients

infectious disease mortality rates

Examples of mortality rate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The only alternative to transplant is dialysis, which has a five-year mortality rate of more than 50%. —New Atlas, 9 Sep. 2025

Despite this, those in the lowest 25 percent of early growth had higher mortality rates than their larger counterparts. —Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025

The five-year mortality rate for people on dialysis is higher than 50%. —Nadia Kounang, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025

With mounting social, economic, and immigration pressures on Latinas, combined with care cuts, these maternal mortality rates are likely to rise. —Noreen Sugrue, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for mortality rate

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

Medical Definition

mortality rate

noun

: the ratio between deaths and individuals in a specified population and during a particular time period : the incidence of deaths in a given population during a defined time period (such as one year) that is typically expressed per 1000 or 100,000 individuals : death rate

an annual mortality rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people

Note: A crude mortality rate does not distinguish between specific causes of death or groups of individuals and measures the incidence of all deaths in a population during a given time period. More specific mortality rates are based on narrower categories of individuals or causes of death.

mortality rates of liver cancer patients

an infant mortality rate of 9 deaths per 1000 live births