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Video Description

Type: KIHASA Policy Featurette

Topic: How to Compare Mortality Rates between Countries with Different Population Structures?

Guest Speaker: Shin Jeong-woo, Director, Department of Social Security Finance and Data Research, KIHASA

Transcript

Someone named Park Ye-in asked the following question:

I believe there are many things to consider when collecting and processing data, especially health data. I wonder if international organizations prioritize any particular considerations or precautions when they collect and process data?

In general, data on health resources or health risk factors are meaningful on their own for each country. For instance, indicators such as the number of physicians or the prevalence of smoking do not require additional processing, because such information is derived from administrative records based on a complete census or from national surveys. However, as mentioned earlier, in the context of OECD health statistics, comparisons between countries are important. Therefore, for indicators that could be influenced by factors such as national population structure, additional processing, such as standardization, is necessary. This is particularly true for data on health status. 

Even between countries with similar economic levels, differences in aging rates can result in different age structures. It is therefore necessary to re-standardize the data using the OECD population composition as a basis. This process is called age standardization. As a result, statistics on mortality from specific causes, such as suicide or cancer, published for international comparisons may differ from those published by national institutions for domestic purposes. It would be useful to bear this in mind when examining OECD health statistics.