Monthly Vital Statistics Reports

Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 1993

In 1993, 2,268,533 deaths were registered in the United States, 92,940 more than in 1992 ( the highest number ever registered), according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 1993 presents detailed analyses of causes of death, life expectancy, infant mortality, and maternal mortality. The data in this report are based on information from all death certificates filed in the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

Data Highlights:

• The death rate in 1993 was 880 deaths per 100,000 population, which represents a 3 percent increase than the 1992 rate of 852 deaths per 100,000 population.
• Homicide, accidents, and AIDS were the causes contributing most to increases in death rates for younger age groups; while the causes contributing most to increases in death rates for the older age groups were heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and allied conditions, and pneumonia.
• Increases in mortality resulted in a decline from 75.8 years in 1992 to 75.5 years in 1993 in life expectancy at birth. This is the first decline in life expectancy for the U.S. population since 1980.
• In 1993, 33,466 infant deaths were reported, an infant mortality rate of 8.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. Black infant mortality has declined (16.5 per 1,000 live births), however, the rate is still higher than white infants (6.8 per 1,000 live births).
• In 1993, 16,754 deaths were recorded for Alzheimer’s disease, an age-adjusted death rate of 2.3 per 100,000 population.