TY  - JOUR
A1  - Barbi, Elisabetta
A1  - Racioppi, Filomena
A1  - Casacchia, Oliviero
T1  - Cause-specific mortality as a sentinel indicator of current socioeconomic conditions in Italy
Y1  - 2018/09/26
JF  - Demographic Research
JO  - Demographic Research
SN  - 1435-9871
SP  - 635
EP  - 646
DO  - 10.4054/DemRes.2018.39.21
VL  - 39
IS  - 21
UR  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/21/
L1  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/21/39-21.pdf
L2  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol39/21/39-21.pdf
N2  - Background: In the last few years the need for disaggregated statistics at small territorial levels to monitor the social and economic conditions of the various areas of a country has increased considerably. The question of how to define these indicators has been the topic of a recent international debate. 

Objective: This study aims to assess whether simple, widely available demographic indexes, like mortality measures, may serve as sentinel indicators of economic development and social wellbeing in Italy. 

Methods: We analyse and compare the geographical patterns of the infant mortality rate and of the mortality rates for leading causes of death with the spatial pattern found for a more complex index, the vulnerability index, recently introduced by the Italian National Institute for Statistics at the provincial level in contemporary Italy. 

Results: Mortality from leading causes of death such as diseases of the circulatory system, and mortality from increasingly emergent causes of death such as diabetes, may offer a valid statistic to grasp economic development and social wellbeing in Italy today. 

Conclusions: Our findings are important because policymakers need to rely on indicators with the following fundamental properties: easy availability, clear definition, temporal continuity, and spatial comparability. 

Contribution: This study contributes to the literature by showing that mortality data is a straightforward and powerful tool to help policymakers plan appropriate interventions. 

ER  -