World Mortality Report 2007
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ST/ESA/SER.A/289 Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division World Mortality Report 2007 United Nations New York, 2011 DESA The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which Member States of the United Nations draw to review common problems and take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities. Note The designations employed in this report and the material presented in it do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. This publication has been issued without formal editing. Suggested citation: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2011). World Mortality Report 2007 (United Nations publication). ST/ESA/SER.A/289 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION Copyright © United Nations 2011 All rights reserved PREFACE The World Mortality Report 2007, prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, provides a comprehensive set of mortality estimates for the world’s countries and their aggregates, along with an inventory of the availability of primary data for the estimation of adult and child mortality at the national level. The objectives of the World Mortality Report 2007 are twofold. First, the results of the 2006 Revision of World Population Prospects are used to provide an overview of levels and trends of mortality for 195 countries and areas that had populations of 100,000 or higher in 2007. Estimates for selected mortality indicators are also provided for the world, each development group, and the major areas and regions of the world. The report provides a detailed analysis of the estimated levels and trends of mortality for selected aggregates and at the country level. The second objective of the World Mortality Report 2007 is to document the availability of information relevant to the estimation of child and adult mortality at the national level in order to set the basis for the continuing improvement of mortality estimation. The data are also distributed in digital form. Interested users can purchase the CD-ROM containing the major results of the World Mortality Report 2007. A description of the data provided on the CD-ROM and an order form are presented on pages 48 to 51 of this publication and are also posted on the Population Division’s web site (www.unpopulation.org). A major source of official national statistics used in the preparation of mortality estimates is the United Nations Demographic Yearbook and its accompanying databases, produced and maintained by the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. The Population Division is grateful to the Statistics Division for its continuing cooperation. The Population Division also acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Macro International Inc. (ICF Macro), the International Programs Center of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Human Mortality Database, IPUMS-International and the national statistical offices that provided some of the data presented in this report. The review of mortality data generated by sample surveys was greatly facilitated by a number of earlier compilations made by the United Nations and other organizations. For child mortality, those compilations included the United Nations databases on child mortality for developing countries (United Nations, 1992a; 1995; 1996a; 1996b); additional data collected by Hill and others (1999); and a collaborative database maintained by UNICEF with contributions from the Interagency Group on Mortality Estimation. Similar databases did not exist for adult mortality. Information on survey questions generating data relevant for the estimation of adult mortality—including questions on household deaths and on the survival of adult relatives—was garnered from survey reports and questionnaires. Much of the information on sources of data relating to the estimation of adult mortality was obtained from secondary sources in the demographic literature, including studies, both published and unpublished, of mortality in specific countries and regions. A large amount of information on the content of surveys and censuses from the 1950s to the 1970s was available from the Mortality Project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Waltisperger, 1978). A number of organizations outside the United Nations have produced in-depth demographic studies of specific countries that had useful reviews of mortality data. Also, numerous books, journal articles and papers focusing on specific countries or groups of countries provided information that enriched the inventory. Other important sources of information were methodological studies that, despite not being exhaustive, were useful sources to pinpoint the existence of surveys and censuses that had collected various types of information relevant for adult mortality estimation. Internal documentation and historical files maintained by Population Division, particularly documentation used in the preparation of the various Revisions of World Population iii Prospects, were also consulted. Documentation from the Centro Latinamericano y Caribeño de Demografia (CELADE) provided useful inventories of mortality information for countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as did monographs from the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) for their respective regions. For more information about the World Mortality Report 2007, please contact Ms. Hania Zlotnik, Director, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY 10017, USA (Fax: 1-212-963-2147). iv CONTENTS Page PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................................. iii EXPLANATORY NOTES ......................................................................................................................................... xiv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................ xxi INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter I. LEVELS AND TRENDS OF MORTALITY ........................................................................................................... 3 A. Life expectancy at birth .................................................................................................................... 3 B. Mortality in childhood ...................................................................................................................... 17 C. Mortality in adulthood ...................................................................................................................... 23 D. Mortality from HIV/AIDS................................................................................................................ 25 II. DATA AVAILABILITY FOR THE ESTIMATION OF MORTALITY.......................................................................... 32 A. Data sources for the estimation of mortality..................................................................................... 32 B. Compilation of the inventory............................................................................................................ 35 C. Availability of data for the estimation of mortality .......................................................................... 38 D. Description of the data inventory...................................................................................................... 44 E. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 46 III. ORDERING THE WORLD MORTALITY REPORT 2007 CD-ROM EDITION – DATASETS IN EXCEL AND PDF FORMATS ............................................................................................. 48 IV. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 53 TABLES I.1. Life expectancy at birth by development group and major area, 1950-1955, 1975-1980 and 2000-2005 .............................................................................................................................................