Crude Death Rate

The crude death rate is the “number of deaths in a population in a given year per 1000 members of the population” (Poston & Bouvier 165). In 2020, the CDR in the Netherlands was 9.7, meaning there were almost 10 deaths for every 1000 persons in the population in the Netherlands. As you can see from the graph, the CDR jumps up significantly between 2019 and 2020. This is likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began sweeping the globe in early 2020. What is interesting, as based off this graph, is that the CDR has not been declining over time (even disregarding the spike due to Covid). This is unusual because the Netherlands is a developed nation, or a Level 1 nation as Rosling would refer to it. This should imply that with time, improvements in societal institutions like healthcare and education should help to decrease the CDR overall. As this graph suggests, however, this is not the case.

Graphs Based off the Life Table

nMx - Age Specific Death Rate

The Age Specific Death Rate (ASDR) is a more precise way to measure mortality. The ASDR is the “number of deaths to persons in a specific age group per 1000 persons in that age group” (Poston & Bouvier 168). The ASDR is not crude, and should therefore be used to compare mortality rates between countries with “known differences in age composition” (P & B 168). This graph shows the different ASDR rates over time, from the 2000s to 2019. The darker blue lines indicate the ASDR values from farther back in time. The lighter blue lines indicate the more recent ASDR values. Looking at this graph, one can see that the overall curve of the ASDR values has not changed, but that the values are decreasing over time. This is more consistent with my previous statement, in the CDR section, that mortality overall should be decreasing over time because the Netherlands and over Level 1 nations are consisently improving things like healthcare and education, things that contribute to lower mortality rates. See below for the ASDR values for each Age Cohort from the year 2019.

##    Year      Age.Group         nMx
## 1  2019       < 1 year 0.003508898
## 2  2019   01 - 4 years 0.000145560
## 3  2019   05 - 9 years 0.000062800
## 4  2019  10 - 14 years 0.000076700
## 5  2019 15 - 19  years 0.000200285
## 6  2019  20 - 24 years 0.000259736
## 7  2019  25 - 29 years 0.000332605
## 8  2019  30 - 34 years 0.000427694
## 9  2019  35 - 39 years 0.000586665
## 10 2019  40 - 44 years 0.000947966
## 11 2019  45 - 49 years 0.001529170
## 12 2019  50 - 54 years 0.002582000
## 13 2019  55 - 59 years 0.004378475
## 14 2019  60 - 64 years 0.007332835
## 15 2019  65 - 69 years 0.011524660
## 16 2019  70 - 74 years 0.018438468
## 17 2019    75-79 years 0.030619889
## 18 2019  80 - 84 years 0.057404309
## 19 2019     85 + years 0.150360058

It makes sense that the ASDR values are increasing as you move into older age cohorts; the death rate is increasing for people as they age. Specifically, the ASDR value, no matter the year, increases significantly around ages 75 - 79 years. After this age group, the ASDR increases past any value previously recorded. This indicates that those who live to age 79+ have a significantly higher chance of dying than previously in their lives (this makes sense to think about logistically, older people have a much higher risk of dying the older they grow).

nqx - Probability of Dying

nqx is similar to nMx, but instead it is the probability that one will die between the ages of x and x+n. nqx can be used as a replacement measure for nMx if nMx is not available.

lx - Number of People Left Alive at Age X

lx is the number of people left alive at age x. It has an inverse relationship with the previous two graphs. Just like the nMx graph, you can see from this graph that over time there are more people left alive at age x than compared to older data. Even in the last 20 years, the data shows us that more people are left alive at age x now than there used to be.

ndx - Number of People Dying

ndx is the number of people dying between ages x and x+n. As opposed to previous graphs, this graph does not show lower numbers as time goes on. My estimate for why this is occurring is because it is a total number of people, not a proportion or a ratio. Thus, this number does not take population growth into account. If the population of the Netherlands has increased since 2000, which it likely has, then the number of people dying will also have increased.

nLx - Person-Years lived

nLx reports “for each age interval the total number of years lived by all persons who enter that age interval while in the age interval” (P&B 175). For example, we know from the lx graph that in 2019, 97413 persons aged 50 - 54 were alive at the beginning of this age interval (note you can use your mouse to zoom in on the graphs where the lines are too close to differentiate). If none of those persons died during that age interval, they would have lived 487,065 years between that age interval. Looking at the nLx value for 2019 people aged 50 - 54, the value is 483,994. If you divide this number by 5, we can estimate how many people died during this age interval. This number should vaguely match the ndx value for persons between the ages of 50 and 54 in 2019.

Tx - Person-Years Lived Above Age x

Tx is the “total number of years lived by the population in that age interval and in all subsequent age intervals” (P&B 176). This graph decreases almost in a linear fashion, meaning the number of years lived by people in a certain age group has a negative correlation with their age.

ex - Expectation of Life at Age x

The graph for ex is similar to the graph for Tx in shape, meaning it also has a negative correlation between the X and Y values. ex is the average number of years of life remaining for persons at the beginning of each age interval.

Life Tables

Infant Mortality Rate

From 1950 - 2021

The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is the number of “deaths in a year to children under age 1 per 1000 babies born in the year” (P&B 201). This graph shows that infant mortality has been declining over time. The IMR value in 2021 was 3.3, meaning that for every 10000 babies born that year in the Netherlands, 33 of them died.

Zooming Out: From 1830 - 2020

This IMR graph is interesting because it looks at the IMR in the Netherlands from 1830 to 2020. You can see a spike in infant mortality between 1850 and 1880, and then the number steadily declines. There is also a spike right before 1950, around 1945. This spike intrigued me, and so upon further research I discovered that the Dutch suffered a famine between 1944 and 1945. Likely, this spike in infant mortality reflects the reality of that famine. I included this graph because it includes a more in depth analysis of the IMR in the Netherlands than the previous graph.

Life Expectancy

At Birth

This graph shows the life expectancy at birth in the Netherlands from 2000 to 2019. As described by Poston & Bouvier, the life expectancy at birth is “the average expected number of years of life to be lived” (165). This number is generally a good measure of the overall health of a country. The life expectancy for males and females has increased, although the female life expectancy rate remains consistently higher. The gap, however, is closing slightly. The value for female life expectancy at birth in 2019 in the Netherlands was 83.15, meaning, after birth, females are expected to live past their 83rd birthday. The equivalent value for males was 80.40, meaning males were expected to live just past their 80th birthday. The average life expectancy at birth value, meaning it is averaged between males and females, is 81.79. According to Macrotrends.net, who sourced their data from the UN, the average life expectancy at birth for Europe in 2019 was 78.33. This means that the Netherlands, in 2019 but likely after as well, has a “healthier” society than at least half of the other European countries.

At Age 60

Similar to the graph for life expectancy at birth, this graph of life expectancy in the Netherlands at age 60 shows an increase in life expectancy for males and females alike over time. Still, the life expectancy for females remains higher than males, although the gap is closing incrementally over time.

The value for female life expectancy at age 60 in 2019 in the Netherlands was 25.13. This implies that once Dutch females turn 60, they are expected to live for over another 25 years. The equivalent male value was 22.96, meaning once Dutch males turn 60, they are expected to live for just under another 23 years. If you take the time to do that math quickly (the female life expectancy value at birth was 83, yet 60 + 25 = 85), you might notice there is a discrepancy by a few years. This data was collected from the same source, the World Health Organization, and so I cannot explain for these discrepancies. However, the math is only off by a couple of years, so I do not think this is a serious issue.

Covid Mortality

There are a lot of countries featured in this graph, but however I am including it to show the variability between the number of Covid cases in different European countries. Like the rest of these graphs, this graph is interactive, so you can hover your mouse above different data points to see which point is representing which country. The countries that show relatively low total number of Covid cases are all smaller European countries. A better measure would be a per capita measure. Note- these are total Covid cases, not Covid deaths. The next graph will show the Covid deaths per 100,000 people across these same European nations, to get a better idea of deaths caused by Covid in the Netherlands compared to other European nations.

This graph has more variation. I was shocked to find out that the country with the most deaths due to Covid per 100,000 people, and by a long way, was the Netherlands! If you hover your mouse above the blue dot that sits up around 600 deaths / 100,000 people on the Y axis, you’ll see that dot corresponds with the value for the Netherlands.

This graph shows the reported Covid deaths for different European countries within the last 7 days per 100,000 people (according to the WHO, this data is up-to-date, and reflects current day COVID statistics). By hovering your mouse over different data points in the graph, you can see that countries with the highest Covid deaths reported in the last 7 days per capita are Belarus, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, France, Belgium and Russia. In this graph, the Netherlands falls just on the lower end of the middle values- with a Covid death rate per capita in the last week of 1.65. This means that Covid has killed just over 1 person out of 100,000 people in the last week in the Netherlands.

Leading Causes of Death in 2020

This graph shows the leading causes of death in the Netherlands in the year 2020. The size of the points on the graph corresponds with the number of deaths caused by each different disease/ medical complication. The largest points caused the most number of deaths in the Netherlands in 2020. The most significant leading cause of death in the Netherlands in 2020 was Neoplasms, a form of tumor… so one could say the leading cause of death in 2020 was cancer. Following that was diseases of the circulatory system, such as heart attacks and high blood pressure. The third largest leading cause of death in 2020 was mental and behavioral disorders. I do not know exactly what this category includes in its entirety but I would estimate it includes depression, anxiety, BDP, and all other mental disorders that can lead to suicide.