Cause- and age-specific mortality rates from accidents, poisoning and violence

Cause- and age-specific mortality rates (MRs) were calculated for 1980 for all four population groups in the RSA for certain accidents, poisonings and violence as they are grouped in the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Cause-specific MRs of coloureds, Asians and blacks were age-adjusted to the age-distribution of whites in 1980 in order to judge the relative importance of the various causes of death. This showed that in whites and Asians motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) head the rank order of MRs; furthermore the first three MRs in the rank order, namely for MVAs, suicide and violence, are common in these two populations. A similar situation exists among coloureds and blacks in that the MRs for homicide rank first and the first four causes of death in the rank order of MRs--homicide, MVAs, violence and other accidents--are common to those two population groups. The fact that deaths from MVAs and violence rank so high in the MRs for all four population groups lends support to the contention that the RSA is a 'violent society'.