Encyclopedia of Sociology

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.