Abstract
HAROLD F. DOBN, of the United States Public Health Services, states (Public Health Rep., Dec. 4, 1942) that between 1930 and 1940 the expectation of life at birth of the total population of the United States increased from 59 to 63.3 years, an increase of 4.3 years, or 7 percent. At the beginning of the century, the expectation of life at birth was 49.2 years as compared with 63.3 years in 1939, an increase of 14.1 years or 29 percent. The relative increase in life expectancy was nearly twice as great for non-whites as for whites. The largest relative decreases occurred in the death-rates of children and young adults, but significant decreases took place throughout life even among the older persons. With the exception of deaths from heart disease, cancer and diabetes, the mortality from each of the important causes of death was lower in 1939 than in 1930. For the first time in the history of the registration area, the maternal mortality-rate declined uninterruptedly throughout the entire decade, the relative decrease being 48 per cent among white mothers and L4 percent among negro mothers.
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Changes in Mortality-Rates in the United States. Nature 151, 639 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151639a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151639a0