Table 1.
Decedent characteristics using death record data for Chinese and Japanese populations in the USA and in developed Asia counterparts (Hong Kong and Japan), 2003–2011
| Chinese |
Japanese |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Hong Kong | Foreign born | US born | Japan | Foreign-born | US born |
| Female (%) | 44 | 48 | 46 | 46 | 78 | 47 |
| Age at death (n (% of total)) | ||||||
| 25−44 | 14 344 (4.1) | 2843 (3.6) | 579 (5.6) | 244 460 (2.5) | 445 (3.0) | 600 (1.4) |
| 45−64 | 58 852 (16.7) | 12 211 (15.7) | 1716 (16.7) | 1 341 391 (13.5) | 2118 (14.5) | 4174 (9.6) |
| 65−74 | 65 330 (18.5) | 12 324 (15.8) | 1197 (11.6) | 1 772 960 (17.8) | 3437 (23.5) | 4373 (10.0) |
| 75−84 | 115 505 (32.7) | 23 306 (29.9) | 3064 (28.8) | 3 118 854 (31.3) | 6114 (41.8) | 13 941 (31.9) |
| 85+ | 98 791 (28.0) | 27 274 (35.0) | 3740 (36.3) | 3 481 824 (35.0) | 2517 (17.2) | 20 565 (47.1) |
| Median age of deaths | 78 | 80 | 81 | 80 | 77 | 84 |
| Female/male | 82/75 | 82/78 | 83/79 | 84/77 | 77/71 | 85/82 |
| Total number of deaths | 352 822 | 77 958 | 10 296 | 9 959 489 | 14 631 | 43 653 |
| Average population size | 5 087 389 | 1 805 385 | 316 337 | 95 717 355 | 260 884 | 371 188 |
| Absolute numbers of deaths due to | ||||||
| Cancer | 111 090 | 24 841 | 2657 | 3 012 577 | 4913 | 9837 |
| Heart disease | 54 964 | 18 019 | 2806 | 1 631 231 | 2791 | 11 284 |
| Cerebrovascular diseases | 30 958 | 6569 | 805 | 1 144 770 | 1103 | 3726 |
| Communicable, maternal and nutritional conditions | 54 162 | 5373 | 571 | 1 245 295 | 813 | 2565 |
| Influenza and pneumonia | 43 910 | 3427 | 343 | 990 576 | 357 | 1697 |
| Alzheimer's disease | 102 | 1473 | 242 | 25 988 | 430 | 1545 |
| Accidents | 6612 | 2517 | 392 | 363 844 | 567 | 1277 |
| Chronic lower respiratory diseases | 18 541 | 2866 | 238 | 172 038 | 468 | 1226 |
| Education attainment | ||||||
| Less than secondary completed | 52.4* | 41.0 | 21.0 | 42.9* | 17.0 | 21.0 |
| Secondary (high school) completed | 29.0* | 35.0 | 52.0 | 37.9* | 66.0 | 63.0 |
| Tertiary (college) completed | 18.6* | 24.0 | 27.0 | 19.2* | 17.0 | 16.0 |
*International education attainment (ie, Hong Kong and Japan) was obtained from Barro-lee Educational Attainment data set, based on the population in 2005 (approximate mid-year) for individuals aged 25+; data can be retrieved at: http://barrolee.com/; individual-level educational data not available within WHO mortality records.