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. 2014 Mar 27:7:23286.
doi: 10.3402/gha.v7.23286. eCollection 2014.

The INDEPTH standard population for low- and middle-income countries, 2013

Osman Sankoh  1 , David Sharrow  2 , Kobus Herbst  3 , Chodziwadziwa Whiteson Kabudula  4 , Nurul Alam  5 , Shashi Kant  6 , Henrik Ravn  7 , Abbas Bhuiya  8 , Le Thi Vui  9 , Timotheus Darikwa  10 , Margaret Gyapong  11 , Momodou Jasseh  12 , Nguyen Chuc Thi Kim  13 , Salim Abdullah  14 , Amelia Crampin  15 , John Ojal  16 , Seth Owusu-Agyei  17 , Frank Odhiambo  18 , Mark Urassa  19 , Kim Streatfield  20 , Masaaki Shimada  21 , Charfudin Sacoor  22 , Donatien Beguy  23 , Karim Derra  24 , George Wak  25 , Valerie Delaunay  26 , Ali Sie  27 , Abdramane Soura  28 , Diadier Diallo  29 , Siswanto Wilopo  30 , Honorati Masanja  31 , Bassirou Bonfoh  32 , Suparat Phuanukoonnon  33 , Samuel J Clark  34
Affiliations

The INDEPTH standard population for low- and middle-income countries, 2013

Osman Sankoh et al. Glob Health Action. .

Abstract

Crude rates such as the crude death rate are functions of both the age-specific rates and the age composition of a population. However, differences in the age structure between two populations or two time periods can result in specious differences in the corresponding crude rates making direct comparisons between populations or across time inappropriate. Therefore, when comparing crude rates between populations, it is desirable to eliminate or minimize the influence of age composition. This task is accomplished by using a standard age structure yielding an age-standardized rate. This paper proposes an updated International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health (INDEPTH) standard for use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) based on newly available data from the health and demographic surveillance system site members of the INDEPTH network located throughout Africa and southern Asia. The updated INDEPTH standard should better reflect the age structure of LMICs and result in more accurate health indicators and demographic rates. We demonstrate use of the new INDEPTH standard along with several existing 'world' standards and show how resulting age-standardized crude deaths rates differ when using the various standard age compositions.

Keywords: age-specific mortality rate; age-standardized crude death rate; crude death rate; demography; low- and middle-income countries; standardized age structure.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Standard population age structure for INDEPTH 2013, also showing INDEPTH 2002, Segi and WHO standards.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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