Life expectancy, mortality and causes of death

Life expectancy is a summary measure of the number of years a person is expected to live, based on current age-specific death rates in the country. It is generally calculated separately for males and females.

Mortality rates (or death rates) relate the number of deaths in an age group to the population in that age group. Since the risk of dying varies by age and sex, mortality rates are typically provided by age and sex.

Cause of death data further disaggregates mortality into the underlying cause of death. This is important in understanding the main diseases from which different population groups (infants, children, adults, elderly) are dying.