It's "crude rate per 100,000", which is the number of people in a sample of 100,000 who would die of that cause in a given year. It's basically a death rate mul

It's "crude rate per 100,000", which is the number of people in a sample of 100,000 who would die of that cause in a given year. It's basically a death rate multiplied by 100,000 to be more readable. If you check the CDC WONDER stats, the total annual death rate is ~840/100,000. I suppose there is some replacement effect in here, where if fewer people die in car crashes they're more likely to live long enough to die of Alzheimers. That's part of why the death rate has been climbing; the population is aging overall. To handle that, there are also "age-adjusted" death rates available, which standardize years of life lost. That can be a big difference; for instance the UK suicide rate is much lower than the US one, but also skews much younger so the age-adjusted rates are closer.