Mortality levels and causes of death in Iran

Hossein Ghodrati, Hakim Sabzevari University
Shafieh Ghodrati, Hakim Sabzevari University

This paper aims at investigting differential mortality between men and women considering mortality levels and causes of death in Iran.For this we used the data of Ministry of Health and Medical Education titled “Registration and Classification of Causes of Death” in 2008. Firstly life tables for men and women were constructed. Decomposition technique was used to define the share of causes of death in life expectencies differences between men and women. Findings show that in 2008 women’s and men’s life expectency at birth is 72.7 and 70.7 in order. Examination of age mortality pattern in Iran indicated two major differences with other populations: First, the death rates of young men is very higher than that of women. Second, at 70+ ages death rates of women is higher than men. Decomposition technique showed that 91.4 percent of life expectency difference belongs to deaths resulted from injuries and are influential on youths. It also revealed that the main cause of higher mortality rates of aged women compared with old men is due to noncommunicable diseases. Appearence of some exceptions in the mortality pattern and causes of death in Iran shows that mortality as well as epidemiological transition does not follows a linear and general trend.