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1994-2000 is relatively large, because of the large sampling
variability, it is preferable to aggregate the data over the age
range 15-49. There are more male than female deaths in the
seven years preceding the survey (1,229 compared with
1,039). The male mortality rate is 8.0 deaths per 1,000
population and is 16 percent higher than the female mortality
rate of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 population. There are no similarly
collected data in Ethiopia for comparison purposes.
9.3 MATERNAL MORTALITY
Information on maternal mortality for the period 0-6
years before the survey is shown in Table 9.2. As previously
mentioned, this period was chosen to reduce any possible
heaping of reported years since death on five-year intervals.
Age-specific mortality rates are calculated by dividing the
number of maternal deaths by years of exposure. To remove
the effect of truncation bias (the upper boundary for eligibility
in the Ethiopia DHS is 49 years), the overall rate for women
age 15-49 is standardized by the age distribution of the survey
respondents. Maternal deaths are defined as any death that
occurred during pregnancy, childbirth or within two months
after the birth or termination of a pregnancy. 2 Maternal
mortality in Ethiopia is high relative to developed countries.
However, for each age group, maternal deaths are a relatively
rare occurrence. As such, the age-specific pattern should be
interpreted with caution. There were 263 maternal deaths in
Table 9.1 Adult mortality rates
Direct estimates of female and male adult
mortality for the period 0-6 years prior to the
survey, Ethiopia 2000
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FEMALE
_____________________________________
Exposure Mortality
Age Deaths years rates 1
_____________________________________
15-19 168 34,277 4.89
20-24 205 34,082 6.03
25-29 176 28,641 6.15
30-34 194 23,757 8.18
35-39 148 17,445 8.46
40-44 91 10,968 8.26
45-49 58 7,164 8.05
15-49 1,039 156,334 6.67 a
_____________________________________
MALE
_____________________________________
15-19 148 34,712 4.27
20-24 192 35,187 5.45
25-29 219 29,591 7.41
30-34 284 23,429 12.11
35-39 173 17,491 9.88
40-44 107 11,198 9.58
45-49 107 6,821 15.63
15-49 1,229 158,429 8.00 a
_____________________________________
1 Mortality rates are expressed per 1,000
apopulation.
Age-adjusted rate
the seven years preceding the survey. The maternal mortality rate, which is the annual number of
maternal deaths per 1,000 women age 15-49, for the period 1994-2000 is 1.68. Maternal deaths
accounted for 25 percent of all deaths to women age 15-49; in other words, one in four Ethiopian
women who died in the seven years preceding the survey died from pregnancy or pregnancy-related
causes.
The maternal mortality ratio, which is obtained by dividing the age-standardized maternal
mortality rate by the age-standardized general fertility rate, is often considered a more useful measure
of maternal mortality since it measures the obstetric risk associated with each live birth. Table 9.2 shows
that the maternal mortality ratio for Ethiopia for the period 1994-2000 is 871 deaths per 100,000 live
births (or alternatively 9 deaths per 1,000 live births).
2
This time-specific definition includes all deaths that occurred during the specified period even if the
death is due to nonpregnancy-related causes. However, this definition is unlikely to result in overreporting of
maternal deaths because most deaths to women in the specified period are due to maternal causes, and maternal
deaths in general are more likely to be underreported than overreported.
Adult and Maternal Mortality * 109