Human Cause-of-Death Data Snapshot from Mortality.org

A January 2026 snapshot of the Human Cause-of-Death Data series compiled by the Human Mortality Database consortium. The dataset contains cause-specific mortality information for high-income populations, as described by the project's detailed methods protocol. It is maintained by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, UC Berkeley, and the French Institute for Demographic Studies.

Use Cases

• Analyze mortality patterns across high-income populations using cause-of-death categories.
• Study temporal trends in specific causes of death as defined by the HCD project's classification.
• Validate demographic models with cause-specific mortality data from the Human Mortality Database.

Strengths

• Data is curated by a major demographic research consortium (Max Planck Institute, UC Berkeley, French Institute).
• Snapshot is current as of January 2026, providing a recent point-in-time view.
• Focuses on high-income populations, enabling comparative studies within that demographic.

Limitations

• Data is a static snapshot; the most up-to-date series requires visiting the primary HCD website.
• Specific row count, column details, and geographic scope within the snapshot are unknown.
• Coverage is limited to high-income populations, which may not be globally representative.

Provenance

Source

Human Mortality Database (www.mortality.org/Data/HCD).

Collection Method

Compiled by the HCD project; detailed methods protocol is referenced.

Freshness

Snapshot taken on 2026-01-08; metadata last updated 2026-01-20.

Geography

High-income populations (specific countries unknown).