BIRTH AND DEATH RATES
Males Females
Non-Hispanic Non-Hispanic
Whites Blacks Hispanic Whites Blacks Hispanic
Heart diseases 254 469 160 93 231 69
Cancers 254 431 147 219 285 129
Strokes 25 91 32 19 58 20
Respiratory diseases 26 31 24 22 7
Accidents
Motor vehicle 19 30 21 9 11 9
Other 23 49 26 8 14 6
Pneumonia and flu 11 32 11 8 15 6
Diabetes 20 60 33 16 54 29
HIV 6 72 25 18 5
Suicide 25 12 8
Liver disease and cirrhosis 26 44 53 10 15 14
Kidney disease 4
Septicemia 414
Homicide and legal intervention 28 12
Death Rates per 100,000 for the Fourteen Leading Causes of Death in the Population 45-64
Years of Age, by Sex and Selected Race and Ethnic Categories: United States, 1997
Table 1. Death Rates per 100,000 for the Leading Causes of Death in the Population 45–64 Years of Age, by
Sex and Selected Race and Ethnic Categories: United States, 1997.
SOURCE:Hoyert, D. Deaths: Final Data for 1997.
Infant mortality also varies by sex. The rate for
male infants born to white mothers in the United
States is 6.7 per 1,000 live births, compared to 5.4
for female infants (Peters 1998, p. 80). Similarly,
the rate for male infants born to African-American
mothers is 16 per 1,000 live births, compared to 13
for female infants.
Like race and ethnic differences, the sex dif-
ference in mortality is evident at all ages. The
greatest gap is among young adults; American
males are two and one-half to three times more
Males at birth Females at birth Males at age 60 Females at age 60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1900
1930
1960
1997
Years of age
47
60
67
74
49
63
74
80
14 15 16
20
15 16
20 23
Figure 4. Life Expectancy for Whites by Sex: United States, 1900–1996.
SOURCE:U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, and D. Hoyert, Deaths: Final Data for
1997.
likely to die between the ages of fifteen and twenty-
nine than females due largely to behavioral causes.
These include motor vehicle and other accident
fatalities, homicides, and suicides. Higher male
death rates from congenital anomalies at younger
ages and from heart disease in middle age (Table
1) suggest that biological factors also contribute to
the sex difference in mortality. Behavioral causes
continue to play a significant role in the sex differ-
ence in mortality in middle age with chronic liver
disease and cirrhosis and human immunodeficien-
cy virus (HIV) adding premature male mortality.