Effective June 28, 2023, this dataset will no longer be updated. Similar data are accessible from CDC WONDER (https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10-provisional.html) Provisional count of deaths involving COVID-19 by county of occurrence, in the United States, 2020-2023.

This dataset presents the age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States beginning in 1999.

Data are based on information from all resident death certificates filed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia using demographic and medical characteristics. Age-adjusted death rates (per 100,000 population) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates after 2010 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for non-census years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published.

Causes of death classified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10) are ranked according to the number of deaths assigned to rankable causes. Cause of death statistics are based on the underlying cause of death.

SOURCES
CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

2. Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Curtin SC, and Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2015. National vital statistics reports; vol 66. no. 6. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf.

United States US: Crude Death Rate: per 1000 Persons data was reported at 10.300 NA in 2050. This stayed constant from the previous number of 10.300 NA for 2049. United States US: Crude Death Rate: per 1000 Persons data is updated yearly, averaging 8.600 NA from Jun 2001 (Median) to 2050, with 50 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.300 NA in 2050 and a record low of 7.900 NA in 2009. United States US: Crude Death Rate: per 1000 Persons data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.US Census Bureau: Demographic Projection.

United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 8.400 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.440 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 8.700 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.800 Ratio in 1968 and a record low of 7.900 Ratio in 2009. United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex.

Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below).

Life expectancy data are available up to 2017. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

3. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf.

4. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf.

5. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) in United States was reported at 9.2 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Death rate, crude - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California counties based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.

The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in each California county regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to residents of each California county (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in each county regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.

The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.

This dataset describes drug poisoning deaths at the county level by selected demographic characteristics and includes age-adjusted death rates for drug poisoning from 1999 to 2015. Deaths are classified using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD–10). Drug-poisoning deaths are defined as having ICD–10 underlying cause-of-death codes X40–X44 (unintentional), X60–X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10–Y14 (undetermined intent). Estimates are based on the National Vital Statistics System multiple cause-of-death mortality files (1). Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population for 2000) are calculated using the direct method. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2015 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 U.S. census. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Estimate does not meet standards of reliability or precision. Death rates are flagged as “Unreliable” in the chart when the rate is calculated with a numerator of 20 or less. Death rates for some states and years may be low due to a high number of unresolved pending cases or misclassification of ICD–10 codes for unintentional poisoning as R99, “Other ill-defined and unspecified causes of mortality” (2). For example, this issue is known to affect New Jersey in 2009 and West Virginia in 2005 and 2009 but also may affect other years and other states. Estimates should be interpreted with caution. Smoothed county age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 population) were obtained according to methods described elsewhere (3–5). Briefly, two-stage hierarchical models were used to generate empirical Bayes estimates of county age-adjusted death rates due to drug poisoning for each year during 1999–2015. These annual county-level estimates “borrow strength” across counties to generate stable estimates of death rates where data are sparse due to small population size (3,5). Estimates are unavailable for Broomfield County, Colo., and Denali County, Alaska, before 2003 (6,7). Additionally, Bedford City, Virginia was added to Bedford County in 2015 and no longer appears in the mortality file in 2015. County boundaries are consistent with the vintage 2005-2007 bridged-race population file geographies (6).

Effective September 27, 2023, this dataset will no longer be updated. Similar data are accessible from wonder.cdc.gov.

County data on race and Hispanic origin is available for counties with more than 100 COVID-19 deaths. Deaths are cumulative from the week ending January 4, 2020 to the most recent reporting week, and based on county of occurrence. Data is provisional.

Urban-rural classification is based on the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/urban_rural.htm).

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights childhood mortality rates by age group for age at death.

Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below).

Age groups for childhood death rates are based on age at death.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

3. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf.

4. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf.

5. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

Data on death rates for suicide, by selected population characteristics. Please refer to the PDF or Excel version of this table in the HUS 2019 Data Finder (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm) for critical information about measures, definitions, and changes over time.

SOURCE: NCHS, National Vital Statistics System (NVSS); Grove RD, Hetzel AM. Vital statistics rates in the United States, 1940–1960. National Center for Health Statistics. 1968; numerator data from NVSS annual public-use Mortality Files; denominator data from U.S. Census Bureau national population estimates; and Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Arias E, Tejada-Vera B. Deaths: Final data for 2018. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 69 no 13. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/nvsr.htm. For more information on the National Vital Statistics System, see the corresponding Appendix entry at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus19-appendix-508.pdf.

Analysis of ‘Death Rate & Life-Expectancy Over The Years’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/yamqwe/death-rate-and-life-expectancye on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

About this dataset

This storyboard of U.S. mortality trends over the past 113 years highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex; neonatal mortality and infant mortality rates by race; childhood mortality rates by age; and trends in age-adjusted death rates for five selected major causes of death.

• Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) are based on the 2000 U.S. standard population.
• Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2013 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010.
• Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses.
• Rates for noncensus years before 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published.

http://i.imgur.com/9pc2V4v.png" alt="Imgur">
National Center for Health Statistics Data Visualization of Deaths in the United States, 1900–2013 (6/01/15)

Attribution: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This dataset was created by Health and contains around 2000 samples along with Sex, Race, technical information and other features such as: - Year - Measure Names - and more.

How to use this dataset

• Analyze Mortality in relation to Average Life Expectancy
• Study the influence of Sex on Race
• More datasets

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit Health

Start A New Notebook!

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

In the United States in 2021, the death rate was highest among those aged 85 and over, with about 17,190.5 men and 14,914.5 women per 100,000 of the population passing away. For all ages, the death rate was at 1,118.2 per 100,000 of the population for males, and 970.8 per 100,000 of the population for women. The death rate Death rates generally are counted as the number of deaths per 1,000 or 100,000 of the population and include both deaths of natural and unnatural causes. The death rate in the United States had pretty much held steady since 1990 until it started to increase over the last decade, with the highest death rates recorded in recent years. While the birth rate in the United States has been decreasing, it is still currently higher than the death rate. Causes of death There are a myriad number of causes of death in the United States, but the most recent data shows the top three leading causes of death to be heart disease, cancers, and accidents. Heart disease was also the leading cause of death worldwide.

Age-Adjusted Death Rates

Death Rates and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2011-2013

By Health [source]

About this dataset

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For more datasets, click here.

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How to use the dataset

In order to use this dataset, start by selecting a particular set of variables to investigate. You can choose from Measure Names (e.g., Death Rates or Life Expectancy), Race (e.g., All Races), Sex (Male/Female) and Year (2011-2013). Once you have selected your desired variables, you can begin analyzing the data by looking at mortality rates and life expectancy averages amongst different populations in the United States over time.

You may also wish to perform more detailed analyses such as identifying trends or examining correlations between features, regional disparities in mortality rates or changes in average life expectancies over time. If so, you can do so by creating line graphs plotted against one or more independent variables such as Race and Sex to see how demographics impact these statistics overall and on a yearly basis using the Year variable computed from July 1st 2010 estimates

Research Ideas

• Analyzing mortality and life expectancy trends among certain races and sexes over time.
• Examining the effects of different socioeconomic factors on death rates and life expectancies.
• Making predictions about future mortality rates and average life expectancies with machine learning algorithms

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

License: Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0 - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. - Keep intact - all notices that refer to this license, including copyright notices. - No Derivatives - If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. - No additional restrictions - You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Columns

File: rows.csv | Column name | Description | |:----------------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------------------| | Measure Names | The type of measure being reported. (String) | | Race | The race of the population being reported. (String) | | Sex | The gender of the population being reported. (String) | | Year | The year the data was collected. (Integer) | | Average Life Expectancy | The average life expectancy of the population being reported. (Float) | | Mortality | The mortality rate of the population being reported. (Float) |

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. If you use this dataset in your research, please credit Health.

The New York Times is releasing a series of data files with cumulative counts of coronavirus cases in the United States, at the state and county level, over time. We are compiling this time series data from state and local governments and health departments in an attempt to provide a complete record of the ongoing outbreak.

Since the first reported coronavirus case in Washington State on Jan. 21, 2020, The Times has tracked cases of coronavirus in real time as they were identified after testing. Because of the widespread shortage of testing, however, the data is necessarily limited in the picture it presents of the outbreak.

We have used this data to power our maps and reporting tracking the outbreak, and it is now being made available to the public in response to requests from researchers, scientists and government officials who would like access to the data to better understand the outbreak.

The data begins with the first reported coronavirus case in Washington State on Jan. 21, 2020. We will publish regular updates to the data in this repository.

A database based on a random sample of the noninstitutionalized population of the United States, developed for the purpose of studying the effects of demographic and socio-economic characteristics on differentials in mortality rates. It consists of data from 26 U.S. Current Population Surveys (CPS) cohorts, annual Social and Economic Supplements, and the 1980 Census cohort, combined with death certificate information to identify mortality status and cause of death covering the time interval, 1979 to 1998. The Current Population Surveys are March Supplements selected from the time period from March 1973 to March 1998. The NLMS routinely links geographical and demographic information from Census Bureau surveys and censuses to the NLMS database, and other available sources upon request. The Census Bureau and CMS have approved the linkage protocol and data acquisition is currently underway. The plan for the NLMS is to link information on mortality to the NLMS every two years from 1998 through 2006 with research on the resulting database to continue, at least, through 2009. The NLMS will continue to incorporate data from the yearly Annual Social and Economic Supplement into the study as the data become available. Based on the expected size of the Annual Social and Economic Supplements to be conducted, the expected number of deaths to be added to the NLMS through the updating process will increase the mortality content of the study to nearly 500,000 cases out of a total number of approximately 3.3 million records. This effort would also include expanding the NLMS population base by incorporating new March Supplement Current Population Survey data into the study as they become available. Linkages to the SEER and CMS datasets are also available. Data Availability: Due to the confidential nature of the data used in the NLMS, the public use dataset consists of a reduced number of CPS cohorts with a fixed follow-up period of five years. NIA does not make the data available directly. Research access to the entire NLMS database can be obtained through the NIA program contact listed. Interested investigators should email the NIA contact and send in a one page prospectus of the proposed project. NIA will approve projects based on their relevance to NIA/BSR''s areas of emphasis. Approved projects are then assigned to NLMS statisticians at the Census Bureau who work directly with the researcher to interface with the database. A modified version of the public use data files is available also through the Census restricted Data Centers. However, since the database is quite complex, many investigators have found that the most efficient way to access it is through the Census programmers. * Dates of Study: 1973-2009 * Study Features: Longitudinal * Sample Size: ~3.3 Million Link: *ICPSR: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/00134

NCHS - Age-adjusted Death Rates for Selected Major Causes of Death

  Description

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights trends in age-adjusted death rates for five selected major causes of death. Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/HHS-Official/nchs-age-adjusted-death-rates-for-selected-major-c.

United States US: Mortality Rate: Adult: Male: per 1000 Male Adults data was reported at 133.993 Ratio in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 131.567 Ratio for 2014. United States US: Mortality Rate: Adult: Male: per 1000 Male Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 176.083 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2015, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 240.957 Ratio in 1968 and a record low of 131.037 Ratio in 2013. United States US: Mortality Rate: Adult: Male: per 1000 Male Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Adult mortality rate, male, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60--that is, the probability of a 15-year-old male dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) University of California, Berkeley, and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. The Human Mortality Database.; Weighted average;

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California as a whole based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.

The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to California residents (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in California regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.

The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.

United States US: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Male: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 7.200 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 7.400 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Male: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 8.000 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.500 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 7.200 Ratio in 2017. United States US: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Male: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Under-five mortality rate, male is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn male baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to male age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.