Standardised age group mortality trend by States,Malaysia 1995-2010

This ecological study aims to examine the pattern of age standardised mortality rate (asmr) among the states within malaysia and its relationship with gross domestic product (gdp),population density and age. in addition,the five-yearly patterns of asmr for a fifteen-year period between 1995 and 2010 were studied. death data from the national registration department (nrd),malaysia and other important statistical data (i.e. data on gdp and population density) from the department of statistics,malaysia from the same period were also analysed. it was found that gdp has a strong negative correlation with asmr (spearman's rho coefficient=-0.543,r2=0.295); however,the strength of correlation between population density and asmr is very weak (spearman's rho coefficient=-0.084,r2=0.008). those states with higher asmr generally have higher proportion of elderly people. in addition,states with higher gdp malaysia showed decreasing trend of asmr from 1995 to 2010. it can be concluded that in malaysia,states with a higher level of asmr have lower gdp and a higher proportion of the elderly. © universiti putra malaysia press.