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Age-standardized mortality rates are used to compare the mortality rates of places without being skewed by the difference in age distributions from place to place.

Standardized rates are favored over Crude Rates because they take age groups into consideration, e.g. one should not compare a population of over-70s to a younger population in another region.

The use of a standard population is needed when comparing the mortality rates of differing population groups to discount the effect of age on mortality. Without doing using this standardization it would be unclear if differing mortality rates were due to age or other factors.

When standardization is inappropriate

Age standardization is inappropriate when utilization figures are needed for resource consumption in a particular area. For example, when deciding on how many old-age homes are needed in an area then one needs to know the actual frequency of age.

See also

• Age adjustment