List of Member States by WHO region and mortality stratum.

To aid in cause-of-death and burden-of-disease analyses, the 192 Member States of the World Health Organization have been divided into five mortality strata on the basis of their levels of mortality in children under five years of age (5q0) and in males 15-59 years old (45q15). This classification was carried out using population estimates for 1999 (using United Nations Population Division data) and estimates of 5q0 and 45q15 based on WHO analyses of mortality rates for 1999.

Quintiles of the distribution of child mortality for both sexes combined (5q0) were used to define some countries as very low child mortality (1st quintile), some as low child mortality (2nd and 3rd quintiles) and others as high child mortality (4th and 5th quintiles). Adult mortality (the risk of death between ages 15 and 60 years, i.e. 45q15) was regressed on 5q0 and the regression line used to divide countries with high child mortality into high adult mortality (stratum D) and very high adult mortality (stratum E). Stratum E includes the countries in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV/AIDS has had a very substantial impact.

The adjacent table summarizes the five mortality …