Vital rates refer to how fast vital statistics change in a population (usually measured per 1000 individuals). There are 2 categories within vital rates: crude rates and refined rates.
Crude rates measure vital statistics in a general population (overall change in births and deaths per 1000).
Refined rates measure the change in vital statistics in a specific demographic (such as age, sex, race, etc.).
Famous quotes containing the words vital and/or rates:
“The poet sings how the blood flows in his veins. He performs his functions, and is so well that he needs such stimulus to sing only as plants put forth leaves and blossoms.... His song is a vital function like breathing, and an integral result like weight.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the U.S. for instance, the value of a homemaker’s productive work has been imputed mostly when she was maimed or killed and insurance companies and/or the courts had to calculate the amount to pay her family in damages. Even at that, the rates were mostly pink collar and the big number was attributed to the husband’s pain and suffering.”
—Gloria Steinem (20th century)