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New Article in “Bundesgesundheitsblatt” • 18.04.2024Mortality Trends in International Comparison
A new paper by scientists from our team and our research network assesses the differences in mortality trends between Germany and other countries in Western Europe.
Due to its strong economy and a well-developed healthcare system, Germany is well positioned to achieve above-average reductions in mortality. Nevertheless, in terms of life expectancy, Germany is increasingly falling behind Western Europe. Therefore, a team of researchers including Pavel Grigoriev, Markus Sauerberg and Sebastian Klüsener from BiB as well as Domantas Jasilionis and Alyson van Raalte from MPIDR compared mortality trends in Germany with other Western European countries, covering the period from 1960 to 2019. The focus of their work was on long-term trends in Germany’s ranking in international mortality trends. In addition, they conducted a detailed mortality analysis by age.
For their analyses, they used mortality data from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) and cause-specific mortality data from the database of the World Health Organization (WHO). For the international comparison of mortality trends, they used conventional mortality indicators (age-standardized death rate and period life expectancy).
The authors found out that Germany has higher mortality in the middle and older age groups compared to other Western European countries. Germany’s life expectancy gap compared to Western Europe has grown during the past 20 years. In 2000, Germany was 0.73 years behind for men and 0.74 years behind for women. By 2019, these figures had risen to 1.43 and 1.34 years, respectively. This is mainly due to mortality from non-communicable diseases.
For Germany to catch up with other Western European countries, a stronger focus on further reducing mortality at ages 50+ is crucial, as the authors conclude. This also requires further research to understand the factors behind Germany’s disadvantageous position.
Grigoriev, Pavel; Sauerberg, Markus; Jasilionis, Domantas; van Raalte, Alyson; Klüsener, Sebastian (2024): Sterblichkeitsentwicklung in Deutschland im internationalen Kontext. Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz (online first).