Press Kit & Data Sources
Resources for journalists, researchers, and educators using the Human Mortality Explorer.
The Human Mortality Explorer is a free, open-source interactive tool that visualises global mortality data across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023. It makes complex public health data accessible to everyone through interactive maps, treemaps, trend charts, and comparison tools.
Built by Paddy Farrell, the tool draws on publicly available datasets from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Our World in Data, the United Nations, and the World Bank.
| Source | Data | Coverage | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| IHME Global Burden of Disease 2023 | Cause-of-death estimates, death rates by age, risk factor attributions | 204 countries, 1990-2023 | IHME Terms |
| Our World in Data | Processed and cleaned GBD/WHO datasets, living conditions indicators | Global, 1990-2023 | CC BY 4.0 |
| World Health Organization (WHO) | Mortality Database, Global Health Estimates, Health Expenditure Database | 194 member states | WHO Policy |
| United Nations | World Population Prospects 2024 (population, projections) | 237 countries, 1950-2100 | UN Open |
| World Bank | Country metadata, GDP per capita, GINI index, income groups | 217 economies | CC BY 4.0 |
| FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization) | Dietary supply data, food balance sheets, nutrition indicators | 245 countries, 1961-2023 | FAO Terms |
Human Mortality Explorer (2026). TriageMethod. Available at: https://triagemethod.com/tools/human-mortality-explorer/
- Death rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population (WHO standard population) unless otherwise noted.
- Cause categories follow the GBD cause hierarchy. Level 2 categories (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms) are the primary unit of analysis.
- Country data uses ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes. Some territories and dependencies are excluded.
- Historical data from the WHO Mortality Database may have gaps for certain country-year combinations.
- Rankings are based on age-standardised death rates to allow fair comparison between countries with different age structures.
You can reach us directly:
The Human Mortality Explorer code and visualisations are released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
You are free to share and adapt this work for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you give appropriate credit. See the data source licences above for restrictions on the underlying datasets.
Press Kit and Media Resources
Everything you need to cover, cite, or embed the Human Mortality Explorer
The Press Kit provides journalists, researchers, and content creators with everything needed to use and cite the Human Mortality Explorer. Find data source documentation, methodology descriptions, citation templates, and licensing information.
All content is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). The underlying data comes from the IHME Global Burden of Disease Study 2023 and the World Bank. If you are writing about global mortality, health trends, or data visualisation, the resources on this page will help you accurately represent and attribute the data.
How should I cite the Human Mortality Explorer?
Cite as: 'Human Mortality Explorer by Paddy Farrell / Triage Method (triagemethod.com), using data from the IHME Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, processed by Our World in Data.' Include a link to the specific page or visualisation where applicable.
Can I use the data and charts in my publication?
Yes. All visualisations and derived data are released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may freely use, share, and adapt them for any purpose — including commercial publication — as long as you provide appropriate attribution.
What is the data methodology?
The Human Mortality Explorer uses age-standardised death rates from the IHME Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, distributed by Our World in Data. Rates are per 100,000 population and cover 292 causes across 204 countries from 1990 to 2023. Socioeconomic data comes from the World Bank.
Who built the Human Mortality Explorer?
The Human Mortality Explorer was built by Paddy Farrell as part of the Triage Method project. It is a free, open-access educational tool designed to make global mortality data accessible to researchers, journalists, students, and the general public.