Volume 1 - Article 3 | Pages –  

Longevity and month of birth: Evidence from Austria and Denmark

By Gabriele Doblhammer

Abstract

This article shows that in two European countries, Austria and Denmark, a person’s life span correlates with his or her month of birth. It presents evidence that this pattern is not the result of the seasonal distribution of death. It also shows that the seasonal pattern in longevity cannot be explained by the so-called birthday phenomenon, the alleged tendency of people to die shortly after their birthday. The article concludes with a discussion of possible social and biological mechanisms related to a person’s season of birth that might influence life expectancy.

Author’s Affiliation

• Gabriele Doblhammer - Rostocker Zentrum zur Erforschung des Demografischen Wandels, Germany EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

A systematic literature review of studies analyzing the effect of sex, age, education, marital status, obesity, and smoking on health transitions
Volume 20 - Article 5

Trends in educational mortality differentials in Austria between 1981/82 and 2001/2002: A study based on a linkage of census data and death certificates
Volume 19 - Article 51

Seasonal mortality in Denmark: the role of sex and age
Volume 9 - Article 9

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Feminicide as a determinant of Mexican female life expectancy in the 21st century
Volume 53 - Article 24    | Keywords: female life expectancy, feminicide, life expectancy, Mexico, mortality, violence, women

Online obituaries as a complementary source of data for mortality in Canada
Volume 53 - Article 22    | Keywords: Canada, computational demography, digital traces, mortality, nowcasting, online obituaries, Quebec, web scraping

The impact of population heterogeneity on the age trajectory of neonatal mortality: A study of US births 2008–2014
Volume 53 - Article 7    | Keywords: frailty, heterogeneity, heterogeneity, infant mortality, mortality, mortality selection, mortality selection, neonatal mortality, United States of America

Can we estimate crisis death tolls by subtracting total population estimates? A critical review and appraisal
Volume 52 - Article 23    | Keywords: conflict demography, death tolls, demographic methods, historical demography, mortality, mortality crises, mortality estimates, population balance

Uncovering the underlying causes for the narrowing, stalling, and widening Black–White mortality gap from 2000 to 2022 in the United States
Volume 52 - Article 18    | Keywords: cause of death, decomposition, mortality trends, racial disparities, United States of America, years of life lost (YLL)