What does the term mortality refer to?

Mortality refers specifically to the death rate within a population. It is a measure of the number of deaths in a given population during a specific time period, often expressed as the number of deaths per thousand individuals per year. This term is crucial in studies of population dynamics, as it helps researchers understand factors that affect population size and health.

Population growth, birth rate, and migratory rate are related concepts but focus on different aspects of population changes. While birth rate pertains to the number of live births in a population during a certain time, and migratory rate reflects the movement of individuals into and out of a population, mortality zeroes in on the aspect of death, making it a distinct and essential term within biology and ecology.