Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure

Quality of life depends on various physical and social conditions, such as the epidemiological environment in which a person lives. The availability of health care and the nature of medical insurance—public as well as private—are among the important influences on life and death. So are other social services, including basic educa tion and the orderliness of urban living, and the access to modern medical knowledge in rural communities. The statistics on mortality draw our attention to all these policy issues. Mortality information can throw light also on the nature of social inequalities, including gender bias and racial disparities