International mortality rates by country
About 2 mins
Key points
- The mortality rate in the areas with the UK’s lowest mortality is 841 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 1,145 per 100,000 residents in the areas with the highest.
- Compared to 30 other European countries, the UK has the fourth-widest relative gap between the areas with highest and lowest mortality rates
The UK has the fourth-widest relative gap between areas with the highest and lowest mortality
Longevity is often considered a sign of the health and prosperity of a country’s population. It can also highlight inequalities between different populations. This partly reflects inequalities in the circumstances in which people live, where some places have more of the building blocks of health that everyone needs – such as stable jobs, good pay, quality housing and a good education – than others.
This chart shows age-standardised mortality rates and the inequalities that exist within selected European countries.
- The mortality rate in the lowest (10th percentile) mortality areas in the UK is 841 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to 1,145 per 100,000 residents in the highest (90th percentile) mortality areas.
- The absolute gap between the 10th and 90th percentiles in the UK is the seventh widest of the 31 European countries included.
- The UK has the fourth-widest relative gap (90:10 ratio) between the highest and lowest mortality areas, compared to 30 other European countries. Only North Macedonia, Albania and Spain have wider relative gaps between areas.
- Mortality rates are age-standardised mortality rates, calculated using population and death data by age and sex for standardised, geographic areas (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS3)) in 31 European countries.
- London contains several NUTS3 areas – inner London boroughs have been grouped together for comparability.
- NUTS3 regions with populations less than 10,000 and countries with a small number of NUTS3 regions have been excluded from this analysis.
- Absolute inequality is measured through the difference in the mortality rates between the 10th and 90th percentiles for each country.
- Relative inequality is measured through the 90:10 ratio, calculated as the mortality rate in the 90th percentile divided by mortality rate in the 10th percentile.
Source: Health Foundation analysis of Eurostat Data Browser, Population on 1 January by age group, sex and NUTS 3 region, 2018; Eurostat Data Browser, Deaths by age group, sex and NUTS 3 region, 2018
