vital statistics

plural noun

Definition of vital statistics

1 : statistics relating to births, deaths, marriages, health, and disease

2a : facts (such as physical dimensions or quantities) considered to be interesting or important She proudly ticked off the show's other vital statistics—17 special exhibits spread over 60,000 square feet, quilts from 25 countries, 150 exhibitors who staffed 210 booths …— Joseph Harriss Monday afternoon of the week before our game with Pitt last year, a note suddenly appeared on our locker room "clobber board"—the bulletin board we use to post pictures and vital statistics of opposing players.— Ara Parseghian with John McDermott

b informal + sometimes offensive : a woman's bust, waist, and hip measurements They ran ads in Russian newspapers asking women to send photos and vital statistics … — Time

Examples of vital statistics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Only the grimmest of vital statistics saw an increase. — Baidi Wang, sun-sentinel.com, "A year of COVID disruption meant fewer births, marriages and divorces in Florida. But deaths soared.," 13 Mar. 2021 The United Nations Statistics Division collects vital statistics from around the world. — New York Times, "A Continent Where the Dead Are Not Counted," 2 Jan. 2021 Traditionally, families would write up a resume of their children's vital statistics -- weight, height, complexion and caste -- and share the list with the parents of prospective partners. — Manveena Suri, CNN, "India's attitude to arranged marriage is changing. But some say not fast enough," 18 Nov. 2020 Infections, hospitalizations and deaths vital statistics; win-loss records, quarterback rating, third-down percentage are not. — Kent Somers, The Arizona Republic, "Eight months since its debut, Coronavirus remains in charge of sports competition," 10 Nov. 2020 Each patient does 50 minutes of monitored exercise with a focus on their heart rate, blood pressure and other vital statistics. — Jeff Forward, Houston Chronicle, "Memorial Hermann expands its cardiac rehab gym in The Woodlands," 15 Oct. 2020 The country, which has the highest number of infections after the U.S., lacks a reliable national vital statistics registration system to track deaths in real time. — Lisa Du, Bloomberg.com, "As Covid Deaths Hit 1 Million, Scientist Says Toll May be Double," 24 Sep. 2020 For those horrified by sheer excess, the Mercedes-Benz 600SEL's vital statistics read like Stephen King's latest shocker. — Martin Padgett Jr., Car and Driver, "Tested: 1992 Mercedes-Benz 600SEL Delivers Unparalleled Excess," 16 Sep. 2020 For this research, Xu looked at town-level vital statistics between 1910 and 1925 across 1,271 districts in India at the time. — Manavi Kapur, Quartz India, "The British Raj’s Spanish flu response has a lesson for India’s Covid-19 battle," 2 Sep. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vital statistics.' 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

25 Mar 2021

Cite this Entry

“Vital statistics.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vital%20statistics. Accessed 12 May. 2021.

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