VIOLENT DEATH ACCORDING TO AGE, SEX AND C AUSE - A CLASSIFICATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL-COUNTRIES 1985-1989

Violent death varies substantially according to age, reflecting the ri sk factors which confront individuals at different stages in their liv es. International comparison of the age-distribution of deaths by viol ence shows great variation from one region to another. Using cluster a nalysis, groupings of countries can be made on the basis of the level of violent death, its age-composition and its causes. It is possible t o show that some countries with heavy and with light burdens of violen t death have characteristic profiles of mortality according to age and to cause of death. For example, surmortality in some Eastern (Hungary and Czechoslovakia) and in some Northern and Western countries (Austr ia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway and Switzerland) produce s a kind of horizontal corridor in Europe. Differences between countri es in respect of mortality from motor vehicle traffic accidents, falls and suicide account to a considerable degree for the patterns observe d.