Wales Premature death |
Key points
- Over the last decade, the rate of premature death has fallen in Wales as elsewhere in Great Britain.
- Although the rate of premature death among men (235 per 100,000) is much higher than it is for women (155 per 100,000), the rate of improvement has been similar in both cases.
- For both men and women, the rate of premature death in Wales is similar that for the rest of Great Britain.
- The rate of premature death is highest in Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent.
- The rate of premature death for men is higher than the rate for women in every local authority area. Where rates are high, they tend to be high for both men and women, and vice versa.
- Research in the 1990s showed that inequalities in premature mortality were widest in cities and narrowest in deeper rural areas. Senior, M. et al., 'Urban-rural mortality differentials: controlling for material deprivation', Social Science and Medicine 51 289-305, 2000. 'Deeper rural' areas are wards with more than 10% employed in agriculture, fishing and forestry.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By local authority
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Map
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Definitions and data sources
Premature death is arguably the simplest, most accessible indicator for ill-health, being a summary measure of all major health problems which result in death.
The first graph shows the number of deaths of those aged under 65 per 100,000 people aged under 65, with separate statistics for men and women. For comparison purposes, the equivalent data for Great Britain excluding Wales is also shown.
The second graph and map show how the rate of premature deaths varies by local authority. To improve statistical reliability, the data is averaged over the latest three years.
The data source for both graphs is Mortality Statistics Division, ONS for England and Wales and the General Register Office for Scotland (the data is not publicly available). The data is standardised to the total European population by age and sex.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. The data on death rates is sourced from administrative data and represents counts of all deaths but does not directly relate to issues of poverty and social exclusion.