Laura Staetsky

http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol21/30/

doi:10.4054/DemRes.2009.21.30

	Click the icon to view and/or download the PDF file. Once you are in the PDF file, use your browser back button to return to this page.

Abstract
Over the second half of the 20th century a number of divergences and convergences of mortality schedules were observed across the world. Some of these developments remain incompletely understood. In recent overviews of old-age female mortality Mesle and Vallin (2006, Population and Development Review) and Rau, Soroko, Jasilionis, and Vaupel (2008, Population and Development Review) describe two contrasting patterns of mortality change between the mid-1980s and the end of the 20th century: a pattern of a large decrease in mortality exhibited by France and Japan and a pattern of a smaller decrease, stability or a certain increase in mortality shown by Denmark, the United States and the Netherlands. No satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon has been proposed so far. This paper shows that the divergence is, to a very significant extent, due to the differential impact of smoking related mortality on female populations of France and Japan versus Denmark, the United States and the Netherlands. The end to the diverging trends is demonstrated. Other lifestyle factors potentially implicated in the divergence are also discussed.

Author's affiliation
Laura Staetsky
RAND Europe, United Kingdom

Keywords
convergence, divergences, health transition, mortality, smoking

Word count (Main text)
5155

Other articles by the same author/authors (in Demographic Research)

[20-11] Unusually small sex differentials in mortality of Israeli Jews: What does the structure of causes of death tell us?

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

	[20-5] A systematic literature review of studies analyzing the effect of sex, age, education, marital status, obesity, and smoking on health transitions (smoking, mortality)
	[13-20] Decomposition analysis of Spanish life expectancy at birth: Evolution and changes in the components by sex and age (mortality, health transition)
	[13-18] Forecasting sex differences in mortality in high income nations: The contribution of smoking (smoking, mortality)
	[13-17] Trends in gender differences in accidents mortality: Relationships to changing gender roles and other societal trends (mortality, convergence)
	[S2-2] Convergences and divergences in mortality: A new approach of health transition (mortality, health transition)

[ Back to previous page ]