mortality rate

[ mawr-tal-i-tee reyt ]

noun

1. the relative frequency of deaths in a specific population during a specified time, often cited as the percentage of human deaths during a public health crisis, or of wildlife deaths due to environmental perils:

   Patients over the age of 80 had the highest mortality rate during the last flu season.

   The mortality rate of the bald eagle falls to about 25 percent after the first year of life.

mortality rate

noun

1. See death rate
   another term for death rate

Word History and Origins

Origin of mortality rate¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

This group has higher mortality rates than other sectors of the population.

From Washington Post

Though that data is very limited, it suggests a 40 percent mortality rate – far higher than the overall mortality rate from the virus.

From Voice of San Diego

Sharfstein said medical officials have developed a better understanding of how to treat coronavirus patients, leading to lower mortality rates than earlier in the pandemic.

From Washington Post

That is a higher mortality rate than other large California county jail systems.

From Voice of San Diego

Infection and mortality rates may be even higher, since nearly every prison system has significantly fewer prisoners today than when the pandemic began, so rates represent a conservative estimate based on the largest known population.

From Fortune

With a mortality rate of 70 percent, the more cases that arise, the deadlier this epidemic becomes.

From The Daily Beast

Ebola, while terrifying from its high mortality rate, cannot take you down anytime.

From The Daily Beast

A rising death toll, mass panic, scary mortality rate—what could possibly be good about the out-of-control epidemic?

From The Daily Beast

Can anything good come out of the disease, which has no known cure and a terrifying mortality rate of 50 percent?

From The Daily Beast

Among medical personnel, there were 416 confirmed cases and 233 deaths, a mortality rate of more than 56 percent.

From The Daily Beast

It is because children are cheaply conceived that the infant mortality rate is high.

From Project Gutenberg

Then only will the infant mortality rate decline, and child labor vanish.

From Project Gutenberg

The figures presented by Hibbs likewise reveal a much higher infant mortality rate for the later born children of large families.

From Project Gutenberg

It is a commonplace truism that a high birth-rate is accompanied by a high infant-mortality rate.

From Project Gutenberg

The present-day Mortality-rate of boy-babies has become increasingly and alarmingly high.

From Project Gutenberg