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Death rates
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Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in some population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 100,000 would mean 950 deaths per year in that entire population. It is distinct from morbidity rate, which refers to the number of individuals in poor health during a given time period (the incidence rate) or the number who currently have that disease (the prevalence rate), scaled to the size of the population.

One distinguishes:

The crude death rate, the total number of deaths per 1000 people. The crude death rate for the whole world is currently about 9.6 per 1000 per year (based on 62 million deaths in 2006, for a population of 6470 million).
The perinatal mortality rate, the sum of neonatal deaths and fetal deaths (stillbirths) per 1,000 births.
The maternal mortality rate, the number of maternal deaths due to childbearing per 100,000 live births.
The infant mortality rate, the number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per thousand live births.
The child mortality rate, the number of deaths of children less than 5 year old per thousand live births.
The standardised mortality rate (SMR) or age-specific mortality rate (ASMR) - This refers to the total number of deaths per 1000 people of a given age (e.g. 16-65 or 65+).

In regard to the success or failure of medical treatment or procedures, one would also distinguish:

The early mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the early stages of an ongoing treatment, or in the period immediately following an acute treatment.
The late mortality rate, the total number of deaths in the late stages of an ongoing treatment, or a significant length of time after an acute treatment.

Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population of people can give a misleading impression. For example, the number of deaths per 1000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite standards of health being better in developed countries. This is because developed countries have relatively more older people, who are more likely to die in a given year, so that the overall mortality rate can be higher even if the mortality rate at any given age is lower. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a life table which summarises mortality separately at each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of life expectancy.

Statistics

The ten countries with the highest infant mortality rate are:

Angola 192.50
Afghanistan 165.96
Sierra Leone 145.24
Mozambique 137.08
Liberia 130.51
Niger 122.66
Somalia 118.52
Mali 117.99
Tajikistan 112.10
Guinea-Bissau 108.72

According to the World Health Organization, the 10 leading causes of death in 2002 were:

12.6% Ischaemic heart disease
9.7% Cerebrovascular disease
6.8% Lower respiratory infections
4.9% HIV/AIDS
4.8% Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
3.2% Diarrhoeal diseases
2.7% Tuberculosis
2.2% Malaria
2.2% Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers
2.1% Road traffic accidents

Causes of death vary greatly between first and third world countries. See List of causes of death by rate for worldwide statistics.

According to Jean Ziegler (the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food for 2000 to March 2008), mortality due to malnutrition accounted for 58% of the total mortality in 2006: "In the world, approximately 62 millions people, all causes of death combined, die each year. In 2006, more than 36 millions died of hunger or diseases due to deficiencies in micronutrients".