Is that the death rate for the whole word or just the US. In a lot of hell holes, the general health is low which makes one more susceptible to other infections and complications. In the first half of the 60s (before the vaccine), getting the measles was not something to panic about. You just stayed home and got over it. Like I said I did not hear of a single instance of someone dieing from it and my school district had about 350 kids in my grade. Rubella, of course, was different because it can cause miscarriages in pregnant women (not whatever term the loonies use today). There was a breakout in the early 80s (I think) and I had to got to the doc to get a script for a test to show that I had antibodies against both because I had them before the vaccine came out and the school district only kept health records from the nurses office for 10 years. I has to show that I was vaccinated to register for grad school that year.