Jousting with the Lancet: Pajamas Media Interviews Professor Gilbert Burnham
Rob S said:
Do you really think that an aging poulation is a sign of a high mortality rate, as Burnham would have us believe? Or, are you just being argumentative?
I would have thought it was self-evident. Apparently not.
Perhaps this will convince you.
……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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate
In fact the ‘age effect’ is so strong epidemiologists routinely ‘age adjust’ two populations before studying the effect of other factors on mortality rates.
Also as I’ve already noted Iran’s mortality rate is 5.5 deaths per 1000 (the same value found for Iraq before the invasion) while the West Bank’s is 3.92. The median age in Iran is 24 while the West Bank is 18. The US rate you will recall is 8.23 and its median age is 36.
