Death rate, also known as mortality rate, is a measure of the number of deaths in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. It is typically expressed per 1,000 or 100,000 individuals. The crude death rate is a specific mortality rate measure that looks at mortality from all causes in a given time interval for a given population. The death rate can be calculated using the formula: d/p x .

The death rate can be used to determine the current mortality impact on population growth in a country, although it is only a rough indicator of the mortality situation. The age-adjusted death rate is useful when comparing different populations because it removes the potential bias that can occur when the populations being compared have different age structures. Specific death rates are based on narrower categories of individuals or causes of death.

In the United States, the death rate for 2021 was 1,043.8 deaths per 100,000 population, with the leading causes of death being heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19. The death rate can also be used to calculate the mortality rate due to a specific disease, such as lung cancer.