This publication presents the levels and trends in mortality from 1970 to 2015 drawn from the World Population Prospects. It highlights variations among countries in a number of mortality indicators: annual deaths; crude death rates; life expectancy at birth by sex; infant mortality; under-five mortality; and probabilities of dying from age 15 to age 60 and from birth to age 70. Estimates of mortality are complemented by information on the age distribution of deaths.