![Sample our Bioscience journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5925/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Bioscience.jpg"})
Abstract
The conventional approach to the measurement of mortality conceptualizes mortality as a function of the age distribution of deaths. Because at contemporary mortality levels the great bulk of deaths are concentrated at the high ages, measures based on deaths are insensitive to mortality changes over most of the life span. An alternative is to conceptualize mortality as a function of the age distribution of death rates. When this is done, large differentials in mortality by sex and by race emerge from the data, calling attention to serious social issues that have been masked by conventional mortality indicators.