Comparative analysis of mortality due to violence in developed countries and in a few developing countries during the 1985-1989 period

A comparative analysis of crude death rates and specifically of deaths from violence was conducted for a large number of developed and developing countries which provide data to the World Health Organization's data bank. For these countries, the analysis shows, first of all, that violent deaths rank third among the major causes of death, after diseases of the circulatory system and malignant tumours, in most developed countries and in some developing countries with reliable data. The comparative analysis also reveals substantial variations in the level and structure of death rates, both among the developed and the developing countries. Thus the crude death rate varies by a factor of 2 in both sexes, both in the developed and the developing countries. For violent deaths, the ranges are even wide: the highest death rate is 3 to 4 times greater than the lowest, except for women in developing countries where it is only twice as high. The method reveals in which countries the situation regarding violent deaths is relatively tolerable and in which countries the situation is decidedly bad. Although it is difficult to draw up a clear classification whereby countries can be grouped according to their profile of deaths by cause, it can be seen that a number of countries have a fairly characteristic profile of mortality by cause; these are mainly the developed countries (Western Europe and other regions) and some developing countries (Hong Kong and Israel) with low crude death rates. In these countries certain causes of violent death predominate as a result of the level of development achieved; motor vehicle accidents, falls and suicides. Moreover, in the other developed countries (in Eastern Europe) and in the developing countries (except Hong Kong and Israel) there is a more "traditional" profile of mortality by cause; this profile is characteristic of the less-developed countries where there are generally fewer deaths from suicide and from motor-vehicle accidents and where unintentional factors predominate over intentional factors. This analysis also brings out the very distinctive situation of the countries of Latin America with regard to violent deaths, particularly the large number of deaths from homicide in a number of countries. This is unquestionably a high-risk region for which further studies need to be undertaken, and where preventive measures need to be applied in order to curb the rising tide of violence and its harmful consequences for these societies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)