The impact of a migration-caused selection effect on regional mortality differences in Italy and Germany

-Germany, Italy, ageing, migration trends, mortality, mortality determinants, regional demography, selective migration

The impact of smoking on gender differences in life expectancy: more heterogeneous than often stated

Background: Throughout industrialized countries, tobacco consumption is seen as the predominant driver of both the trend and the extent of gender differences in life expectancy. However, several factors raise doubts to this generalization. We hypothesize that the impact of smoking on the gender gap is context-specific and differs between populations. Methods: We decompose the gender differences in life expectancy into fractions caused by smoking and other non-biological factors for 53 industrialized countries and the period 1955-2009 to assess the significance of smoking among the causes that can be influenced by direct or indirect interference. Results: The trend of the gender gap can indeed be attributed to smoking in most populations of the western world. However, with regard to the overall extent of male excess mortality, smoking is the main driver only in the minority of the studied populations. While the impact of smoking to gender differences in life expectancy declines in all populations, the contribution of other non-biological factors is in most cases higher at the end than at the beginning of the observation period. Conclusions: Over-generalized statements suggesting that smoking is the main driver of the gender gap in all populations can be misleading. The results of this study demonstrate that - regardless of the prevailing effect of smoking - many populations have still remarkable potentials to further narrow their gender gaps in life expectancy. Although measures to further reduce the prevalence of tobacco consumption must be continued, more attention should be directed to the growing importance of other non-biological factors

The impact of health behaviors and life quality on gender differences in mortality

Since gender-specific mortality differences are known a great deal of research has been conducted on this subject. The resulting hypotheses for explaining male excess mortality can be sub-divided into two basic categories: the biological approach (focusing on biological and genetic factors) and the non-biological approach (focusing on behavioral and environmental factors). It has been proven impossible to explain the observed trends in mortality differences between women and men by relying solely on one of the two groups of theories. Recent studies indicate that the majority of the female survival advantage can be attributed to gender behaviors while the impact of biological factors seems to be limited to 1-2 years in life expectancy at birth. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the impact of gender-specific health behaviors and gender differences in life quality using micro level data for Western Germany.Germany, life styles, mortality, sex differentials

Warum Frauen länger leben: Erkenntnisse aus einem Vergleich von Kloster- und Allgemeinbevölkerung

Die Studie zur Sterblichkeitsforschung beschäftigt sich mit den geschlechtsspezifischen Mortalitätsunterschieden. Der Ansatz der Arbeit besteht darin, die Sterblichkeitsentwicklung von bayerischen Nonnen und Mönchen im Zeitraum 1910-1985 anhand der beiden ausgewählten Untersuchungszeiträume 1910-1940 und 1955-1985 zu analysieren und mit der deutschen Allgemeinbevölkerung zu vergleichen. Zu diesem Zweck wird vom Verfasser aus verschiedenen Quellen aus den Archiven bayerischer Frauen- und Männerklöster ein Datensatz geschaffen, der insgesamt 11.624 Ordensmitglieder, davon 6.154 Nonnen und 5.470 Mönche, umfasst. Das erste Kapitel verschafft einen Einblick in die Vielfältigkeit der in der Literatur diskutierten möglichen Einflussfaktoren und Ursachen der geschlechtsspezifischen Mortalitätsunterschiede, wie z.B. das unterschiedliche Rauchverhalten von Männern und Frauen, der Einfluss des Familienstands oder die Theorie der ungleichen Selektion der beiden Weltkriege. Im Anschluss daran wird im zweiten Kapitel sowohl das methodische Vorgehen erläutert als auch der Datensatz bayerischer Nonnen und Mönche dargestellt. Dabei steht die Sterbetafelkonstruktion im Mittelpunkt. Neben der korrekten Berechnung und Interpretation der einzelnen Sterbetafelfunktionen wird hier auch der Unterschied zwischen Perioden- und Kohortenanalyse erläutert, die beide zur Anwendung kommen. Die in Kapitel 1 gewonnen Erkenntnisse werden dann im dritten Kapitel, dem Auswertungsteil der Klosterstudien, wieder aufgegriffen, um auf diese Weise die Ergebnisse der Analyse einordnen und interpretieren zu können. Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen, dass sich die Lebenserwartung von Frauen und Männern mit gleichen Verhaltensweisen und Lebensbedingungen im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts vollkommen identisch entwickelt hat. Damit können sämtliche in der Literatur diskutierten möglichen Ursachen für die Entwicklung der geschlechtsspezifischen Mortalitätsunterschiede, die nicht vom Menschen selbst beeinflussbar sind - wie biologische Faktoren oder die Theorie der ungleichen Selektion der beiden Weltkriege - unmöglich die alleinigen Auslöser für dieses Phänomen sein. Die Untersuchung zeigt somit, dass für die Auseinanderentwicklung der Lebenserwartung von Frauen und Männern der Allgemeinbevölkerung wohl ausschließlich Veränderungen in den Lebensverhältnissen der weltlichen Bevölkerung verantwortlich sind. Beispiele hierfür wären die immer größer werdende Stressbelastung für die berufstätige Bevölkerung oder unterschiedliche gesundheitsbeeinflussende Verhaltensweisen der Lebensstile von Männern und Frauen, wie z.B. der erhöhte Zigaretten- und Alkoholkonsum der Männer. (ICG2

Die Bildungsbeteiligung deutscher und ausländischer Jugendlicher in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

"Der Beitrag untersucht mit den Daten des Mikrozensus 1995 die Determinanten der Beteiligung deutscher und nicht-deutscher Jugendlicher an den Jahrgangsstufen 1113 der Gymnasien. Dabei werden bei den Jugendlichen ohne deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit die numerisch größten Herkunftsgruppen (Türkei, ehemaliges Jugoslawien, EU und andere) unterschieden. Die wichtigsten Determinanten sind die Bildungsabschlüsse der Eltern, der Generationenabstand und das Haushaltsnettoeinkommen. Nach Kontrolle aller individueller Faktoren besitzt die Nationalität nach wie vor einen signifikanten Einfluß: Während Jugendliche aus EU-Staaten oder der Gruppe der anderen Länder keine unterschiedliche Beteiligung gegenüber deutschen Jugendlichen aufweisen, ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Besuchs der Gymnasial-Oberstufe bei Jugendlichen aus dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien am niedrigsten und auch bei türkischen Jugendlichen signifikant reduziert. Unter den ausländischen Jugendlichen ist der Bildungsabschluß der Haushaltsbezugsperson eine noch wichtigere Determinante als bei deutschen Jugendlichen. Die Anteile der Erwachsenen mit erfolgreichem Bildungsabschluß steigen allerdings bei allen Nationalitäten deutlich. Jüngere Erwachsene haben (außer bei Deutschen) im Durchschnitt zu einem wesentlich höheren Anteil einen Schulabschluß als Ältere." (Autorenreferat)"Employing the German microcensus of 1995 determinants of the attendance of high school classes 11-13 are examined for German and non-German teenagers. Non-Germans are subdivided into the largest nationality groups (Turkey, former Yugoslavia, EU-countries and all other nationalities). The most important determinants are parental education, the age difference between parents and child, and the household income. After controlling for all individual variables nationality still has a significant influence: whereas teenagers from EU-countries and of all other nationalities show no difference to Germans the probability of school attendance in classes 11-13 is smallest for teenagers from former Yugoslavia, and is also significant reduced for Turkish nationals. For non-German teenagers parental education is even more important than for the Germans. The share of adults with at least one finished educational degree is rising for all nationalities. Except of Germans in average the share of persons with at least one finished educational degree is higher for younger than for older adults." (author's abstract

The impact of increasing education levels on rising life expectancy: a decomposition analysis for Italy, Denmark, and the USA

Abstract Significant reductions in mortality are reflected in strong increases in life expectancy particularly in industrialized countries. Previous analyses relate these improvements primarily to medical innovations and advances in health-related behaviors. Mostly ignored, however, is the question to what extent the gains in life expectancy are related to structural changes in the populations due to increasing education levels. We decompose changes of the total populations' life expectancy at age 30 in Italy, Denmark, and the USA, over the 20-year period between 1990 and 2010 into the effects of education-specific mortality changes ("M effect") and changes in the populations' educational structure ("P effect"). We use the "replacement decomposition technique" to further subdivide the M effect into the contributions by the individual education groups. While most of the increases in life expectancy are due to the effect of changing mortality, a large proportion of improvements in longevity can indeed be attributed to the changing structure of the population by level of education in all three countries. The estimated contribution of the P effect ranges from around 15% for men in the USA to approximately 40% for women in Denmark. This study demonstrates strong associations between education and overall population health, suggesting that education policies can also be seen as indirect health policies

Life Expectancy by Education, Income and Occupation in Germany: Estimations Using the Longitudinal Survival Method

Reliable estimates for differences in life expectancy (LE) by socio-economic position (SEP), that can be assessed in an international context and are comprehensive in terms of considering different SEP dimensions, are missing for the German population so far. The aim of the present study is to fill this gap by providing estimates for differences in LE by education, household income, work status and vocational class. The lack of national mortality data by SEP required an innovative methodological approach to estimate LE from survey data with a mortality follow-up. The main strengths of the method are the low demand on the data, its simple applicability and the estimation of a set of age-specific probabilities of dying. We employed the method to the German Life Expectancy Survey and estimated period life tables for 45 male and 32 female SEP subpopulations. The results show striking differences in LE across all analysed SEP indicators. Among men, LE at age 40 ranges by more than five years between the lowest and highest household income quartiles, more than six years between individuals with low and high education, around ten years across the work status groups, and almost 15 years across the vocational classes. The proportion of those who reach the classic pension age of 65 years also varies considerably, as does the remaining LE at this age. The corresponding differences among women are smaller, yet still notable. The results yield an interesting finding for the ongoing discussion about the various consequences of an increased pension age. Moreover, they provide policy-makers, doctors, researchers and public health workers with insights into Germany’s most disadvantaged SEP subpopulations and the potential extent of their disadvantages in terms of longevity and mortality.Reliable estimates for differences in life expectancy (LE) by socio-economic position (SEP), that can be assessed in an international context and are comprehensive in terms of considering different SEP dimensions, are missing for the German population so far. The aim of the present study is to fill this gap by providing estimates for differences in LE by education, household income, work status and vocational class. The lack of national mortality data by SEP required an innovative methodological approach to estimate LE from survey data with a mortality follow-up. The main strengths of the method are the low demand on the data, its simple applicability and the estimation of a set of age-specific probabilities of dying. We employed the method to the German Life Expectancy Survey and estimated period life tables for 45 male and 32 female SEP subpopulations. The results show striking differences in LE across all analysed SEP indicators. Among men, LE at age 40 ranges by more than five years between the lowest and highest household income quartiles, more than six years between individuals with low and high education, around ten years across the work status groups, and almost 15 years across the vocational classes. The proportion of those who reach the classic pension age of 65 years also varies considerably, as does the remaining LE at this age. The corresponding differences among women are smaller, yet still notable. The results yield an interesting finding for the ongoing discussion about the various consequences of an increased pension age. Moreover, they provide policy-makers, doctors, researchers and public health workers with insights into Germany’s most disadvantaged SEP subpopulations and the potential extent of their disadvantages in terms of longevity and mortality

Decrease in Life Expectancy in Germany in 2020: Men from Eastern Germany Most Affected

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in mortality in 2020 with a resultant decrease in life expectancy in most countries around the world. In Germany, the reduction in life expectancy at birth between 2019 and 2020 was comparatively small, at -0.20 years. The decrease was stronger among men than among women (-0.24 vs. -0.13 years) and in eastern rather than in western Germany (-0.36 vs. -0.16 years). Men in eastern Germany experienced the biggest decline in life expectancy at birth (-0.41 years). For western German men, the decline was less pronounced (-0.19 years). Among women, the decline in life expectancy at birth was also greater in eastern (-0.25 years) than in western Germany (-0.10 years). As a result of these developments, the differences in life expectancy between the two parts of Germany, and between women and men, increased compared with the previous year. Life expectancy at age 65 decreased more strongly than life expectancy at birth for both sexes and in all regions. This reflects the fact that it was mainly older age groups that were affected by the increase in mortality in 2020. This paper provides further insights into mortality changes in 2020, based on age decomposition and an analysis of lifespan inequality. We conclude that the population in eastern Germany was hit harder by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 than the population in the western Germany

The influence of social factors on gender health

Male births exceed female births by 5-6% (for a sex ratio at birth of 1.05-1.06) while a women's life expectancy, on a global scale, is about 6 years longer. Thus within various age groups the male:female ratio changes over time. Until age 50 years men outnumber women; thereafter their numbers show a sharp decline. Consequently at age 80 years, there are many more women than men. An estimated 25% of this male excess mortality is due to biological causes, the rest being explained by behavioural, cultural and environmental factors. For both women and men, the main health risks related to lifestyle are smoking, alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity. In the year 2010, overweight (BMI: 25-29 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI: >30 kg/m2) were responsible for over 3 million deaths, with similar relative risks in men and women for overweight and obesity. Smoking and alcohol are the major causes of the global gender gap in mortality. For women in some parts of the world however pregnancy is also hazardous. On a global scale, in 2013 about 300 000 deaths were related to pregnancy, with sub-Saharan Africa registering the highest maternal mortality: over 500 maternal deaths per 100 000 births. Additional woman's health risks arise from gender discrimination, including sex-selective abortion, violence against women and early child marriage. Providers should be aware of the effect that these risks can have on both reproductive and general health. © 2016 The Author