Volume 38 - Article 3 | Pages 95–108  

High life expectancy and reversed socioeconomic gradients of elderly people in Mexico and Costa Rica

By Luis Rosero-Bixby

Abstract

Background: Some existing estimates suggest, controversially, that life expectancy at age 60 (LE60) of Latin American males is exceptionally high. Knowledge of adult mortality in Latin America is often based on unreliable statistics or indirect demographic methods.

Objective: This study aims to gather direct estimates of mortality at older ages in two Latin American countries (Mexico and Costa Rica) using recent longitudinal surveys and to determine the socioeconomic status (SES) gradients for LE60.

Methods: Data were collected from independent panels of approximately 7,000 older adults followed over more than a decade ‒ the MHAS and CRELES surveys. The age-specific death rates were modeled with Gompertz regression, and thousands of life tables were simulated to estimate LE60 and its confidence interval.

Results: LE60 estimates obtained from MHAS and CRELES are similar to those obtained from traditional statistics, confirming the exceptionally high LE60 of men in the two countries. The expected gradients of higher LE60 with higher SES are not present, especially among males, who even show reverse gradients (some exaggerated by data issues).

Conclusions: Vital statistics correctly estimate elderly mortality in Mexico and Costa Rica. The higher-than-expected LE60 among Latin American males in general, and particularly among low-SES individuals, seems to be real; their determinants should be thoroughly investigated.

Contribution: This study shows with hard, reliable data, independent of traditional statistics, that elderly males in tropical Latin America enjoy an exceptionally high life expectancy and that SES gradients are absent or even reverse.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The vanishing advantage of longevity in Nicoya, Costa Rica: A cohort shift
Volume 49 - Article 27

The declining effect of sibling size on children's education in Costa Rica
Volume 31 - Article 48

Self-Reported Versus Performance-Based Measures of Physical Function: Prognostic Value for Survival
Volume 30 - Article 7

Is Latin America starting to retreat from early and universal childbearing?
Volume 20 - Article 9

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Using household death questions from surveys to assess adult mortality in periods of health crisis: An application for Peru, 2018–2022
Volume 51 - Article 8    | Keywords: adult mortality, data quality, household surveys, Peru

Which definition of migration better fits Facebook ‘expats’? A response using Mexican census data
Volume 50 - Article 39    | Keywords: census data, Facebook, international migration, Mexico, social media

Standardized mean age at death (MADstd): Exploring its potentials as a measure of human longevity
Volume 50 - Article 30    | Keywords: formal demography, life expectancy, mean age at death, mortality, standardization

How lifespan and life years lost equate to unity
Volume 50 - Article 24    | Keywords: life expectancy, life table entropy, life years lost, lifespan variation

Subnational contribution to life expectancy and life span variation changes: Evidence from the United States
Volume 50 - Article 22    | Keywords: decomposition methods, life expectancy, lifespan variation, subnational mortality

Cited References: 39

Download to Citation Manager

Volume
Page
Volume
Article ID