rate [L, ratus, reckoned] , a numeric ratio, often used in the compilation of data concerning the prevalence and incidence of events, in which the number of actual occurrences appears as the numerator and the number of possible occurrences appears as the denominator. When 1 person in 15 fails an examination, the failure rate is said to be 1/15 (or “one in fifteen”). Standard rates are stated in conventional units of population such as neonatal mortality per 1000 or maternal mortality per 100,000.
