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New Article in “Population and Development Review” • 06.08.2024Declining or Widening Mortality Disparities in Europe?
A new paper by Markus Sauerberg and Pavel Grigoriev from our REDIM team – in cooperation with Florian Bonnet and Giancarlo Camarda from INED – was published in Population and Development Review. It explores the spatial trends in life expectancy between 1995 and 2019 for 420 regions from 16 European countries.
The conventional approach to gauging mortality convergence in Europe relies on life expectancy estimates (e0) at the national level. However, mortality can differ within countries significantly. To better apprehend whether Europe’s mortality patterns have been converging or diverging over recent decades, we must shift our focus to regional mortality data.
Using data from statistical offices, the authors present annual e0 estimates for 420 regions from 16 EU countries from 1995 to 2019. In their empirical analysis, they examined whether regions with initially high mortality levels caught up with low-mortality regions, and investigated changes in the standard deviation of Europe’s regional e0 distribution over time.
Indeed, mortality variation has generally decreased from 1995 to 2019 due to larger gains in e0 for regions with initially high mortality levels. The convergence phase took place mostly during the first half of the entire time period analysed. Over more recent periods, however, more heterogeneity in the development of e0 can be observed. Some advantaged regions realised further gains in e0, even as e0 improvements slowed for more disadvantaged regions.
In conclusion, the paper underscores the importance of addressing widening health inequalities. Policies should target disadvantaged regions to retard mortality divergence across Europe.
Sauerberg, Markus; Bonnet, Florian; Camarda, Carlo Giovanni; Grigoriev, Pavel (2024): Mortality Convergence in Europe? Spatial Differences in Life Expectancy Gains Between 1995 and 2019. Population and Development Review (online first).