Too old to give blood? Not in South Korea
As populations age across East Asia, blood banks face a double squeeze: fewer young donors and more elderly patients needing transfusions. South Korea, Oh Seok Kim notes, has promptly responded … Read more
Health
Why menstrual health belongs in population surveys
Population surveys measure health and wellbeing but overlook menstrual cycle status and symptom burden, a blind spot affecting nearly half the population. Drawing on a survey review and qualitative research, … Read more
Measuring life expectancy with care needs in Ibero-American countries
Increasing life expectancy across the world calls for a comprehensive understanding of how these additional years are lived by individuals. By estimating years of life expectancy with care needs in … Read more
Paris: from capital of early death during the Belle Époque (1871-1914) to a longevity champion today
Paris was once marked by high mortality. In the late 19th century, the French capital lagged significantly behind the rest of France in life expectancy. Today, it ranks among the … Read more
The health trajectories of refugees and how they differ from those of other migrants
Alessandro Ferrara investigates whether refugees arriving in Germany during the 2010s follow the same health trajectories as other migrants. He finds that, like other newcomers, refugees arrive with strong physical … Read more
Mental disorder and (reduced) fertility in Norway
Several countries have seen recent increases in the prevalence of mental disorders. Has this contributed to reduced fertility? A Norwegian register-based analysis shows negative associations between mental disorders and birth … Read more
Increasing health expectancies in China
The gradual increase in life expectancy and the accelerating pace of population aging pose significant challenges to economies, health systems, and healthcare infrastructure all over the world and, as Yu … Read more
Caring for ageing parents reduces fertility intentions in Australia
Ester Lazzari and Valeria Zurla examine how taking on the role of caregiver for a parent influences the expectation to have children. Using prospective data from the Australian HILDA survey, … Read more
Are grandparents happier? Family ties and depression in later life
Are grandchildren beneficial to mental health in old age? Using advanced statistical techniques and data from 160,000 individuals across Europe, Elisa Brini and Francesca Zanasi challenge this common belief: family … Read more
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases around the globe
Mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is the leading cause of death worldwide, in high, middle and low-income countries. Emerson A. Baptista and Bernardo L. Queiroz investigate whether CVD mortality rates … Read more
Self-rated health trends by gender and race in the USA, 1972-2018
Are Americans feeling better or worse since the 1970s and does this pattern vary by gender and race? Jason L. Cummings explores U.S. trends in self-rated health inequalities over the … Read more
Frailty at death: A four-country study
Frailty represents a major public health challenge in ageing populations. In this study, Sergi Trias-Llimós, Magali Barbieri, Viviana Egidi, Luisa Frova, Francesco Grippo, France Meslé, Marilena Pappagallo, and Aline Désesquelles … Read more
Sociodemographic disparities in co-impairment in the older U.S. population
The under-investigated issue of co-impairment (cognitive impairment and limitations in basic activities of daily living) is more prevalent than commonly believed. Shubhankar Sharma, Jo Mhairi Hale, Mikko Myrskylä and Hill … Read more
Reproductive-age morbidities and their impact on women’s health in sub-Saharan Africa (2010-2019)
Women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience high prevalence rates of anaemia and HIV, resulting in an average of 14.3 years of reproductive-age life expectancy spent in poor health. Audrey M. … Read more
Social and mental health outcomes of adolescents conceived via medically assisted reproduction
The number and proportion of children born after medically assisted reproduction (MAR) is increasing fast and many gaps in knowledge remain about their longer-term well-being. Using population register data from … Read more
Is morbidity compressing around the globe?
Does health deterioration manifest at increasingly (dis)similar ages? Iñaki Permanyer, Francisco Villavicencio and Sergi Trias-Llimós explore inequalities in age-at-morbidity onset globally, and find these to be larger than lifespan inequalities. … Read more
Who felt lonely during the COVID-19 pandemic among European older adults?
Feelings of loneliness are not very widespread among European older adults (aged 50 years and over) according to SHARE data. And, surprisingly enough, according to the analysis of Omar Paccagnella, … Read more
Life course reproductive dynamics and early menopause in Uganda
Premature drops in estrogen from early menopausal age may increase the risk of disease and death in later life. To understand what influences early menopausal onset, we looked at the … Read more
Late-career employment trajectories and postretirement mortality among Italian retirees
Benedetta Scotti1 examines the relationship between late-career trajectories and post-retirement mortality in Italy. She finds that exposure to employment instability in later working life, an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in many … Read more
Olympic Games help children grow up healthy
The benefits of the Olympic Games may be numerous and long lasting. Chao Guo highlights the positive role of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in reducing the risks of both … Read more
Life expectancy variation 2019–2021 and the role of Covid-19 vaccination
Taking a broader and more long-term perspective on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on life expectancy may help scholars and policy makers to assess its true impact, and the … Read more
The mental health benefits of cohabitation and marriage in Norway
A Norwegian register analysis with control for time-constant individual characteristics shows an association between cohabitation and declining use of primary health care for mental diseases. However, the decline largely occurs … Read more
Urban survival advantage in low- and middle-income countries: do children fare better than adults?
In low- and middle-income countries, children survive better in urban than in rural areas. However, Ashira Menashe-Orenand and Bruno Masquelier find that this is not necessarily the case amongst adults, … Read more
America’s pandemic of the unvaccinated
The politicization of COVID-19 has changed America’s coronavirus pandemic from a serious public health concern into a major political issue and has contributed to vaccine avoidance. With many Americans declining … Read more
A big challenge for the 21st century: will obesity cut the gains of longevity?
Two recent global phenomena appear to be working against each other: longevity and obesity. The rapid increase of the latter, in both developed and developing countries, may jeopardize the progress … Read more
An eBook about older people across different welfare regimes
Bruno Arpino edits the first N-IUSSP e-book, reporting the main results of an international research project that has just come to an end: “Care, retirement & wellbeing of older people … Read more
Immigrant-native health disparities in adolescence: the role of exogamous families in Finland
Immigrants’ health tends to deteriorate over successive generations, a phenomenon known as “negative health assimilation”. Less is known about what happens to adolescents with one immigrant and one native parent. … Read more
Did you know?
Mortality rates by vaccination status reveal that mortality is much higher among the unvaccinated.Conversely, absolute numbers (deaths by vaccination status) give no indication about the virus-protecting action of vaccines.
Educating children in India may help keep their parents healthy
A strong positive association exists between children’s education and parental health in India. Berenike Thoma and Jan-Walter De Neve explain that this positive relationship persists when controlling for a wide … Read more
Gendered health burdens and benefits of starting and ending caregiving
What happens to caregivers’ health when they stop caregiving? Damiano Uccheddu, Tom Emery, Nardi Steverink, and Anne H. Gauthier investigate the matter across 17 European countries with an innovative method … Read more
Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health after age 50 in Europe
Does the impact of socioeconomic factors on health after midlife vary among women and men depending on the welfare context? Apparently it does: Damiano Uccheddu, Anne H. Gauthier, Nardi Steverink, … Read more
Towards a better identification of older people at risk of depression
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in later life. Omar Paccagnella suggests a new approach to classify older individuals into distinct subgroups, based on different combinations of … Read more
The transition to late adulthood: past adversities increase frailty
Health deteriorates with age, and it can be further worsened by adversities experienced during early adulthood and middle age. On SHARE data, Francesca Zanasi, Gustavo De Santis and Elena Pirani measure … Read more
It all depends on how you do it. Health effects of leaving the labour market
Relying on data from the longitudinal Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2004-2015), and adopting a propensity score matching approach, Elena Pirani, Gustavo De Santis and Francesca Zanasi … Read more
Longer lives, poorer health in England
Stephen Jivraj, Alissa Goodman, Benedetta Pongiglione and George Ploubidis find that, among working-age adults in England, later-born cohorts tend to have higher prevalence of various indicators of poor health and … Read more
COVID-19 pandemic: demographic highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has resulted in enormous consequences worldwide. Joseph Chamie highlights the pandemic’s impact on the components of population change: mortality, fertility and migration. … Read more
Are demographic indicators really converging in post transitional countries?
After the demographic transition, convergence in all demographic behaviours (moderate fertility, low mortality and very low migration) is the guiding assumption of the UN World Population Prospects Revisions. Maria Castiglioni, … Read more
Trends in age at menarche in low- and middle-income countries
Understanding the timing and determinants of age at menarche is key to determining potential linkages between onset of puberty and health outcomes from a lifecourse perspective. Tiziana Leone and Laura … Read more
Strong combined impact of smoking, obesity, and alcohol on survival improvements in Europe
Smoking, obesity and alcohol are considered key public health problems in Europe. Fanny Janssen, Sergi Trias-Llimós, and Anton Kunst show how changes over time in these three lifestyle factors have … Read more
Health at older ages: childless adults not always worse off than parents
As children are often the main source of support in later life, childless older adults are presumed to have higher risks of poor health compared to parents. Nekehia T. Quashie, … Read more
Female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa: ineffective policies and persistent inequalities
Using nationally representative data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, Valeria Cetorelli, Ben Wilson, Ewa Batyra and Ernestina Coast examine whether national policies banning female genital mutilation/cutting … Read more
Socioeconomic differences in life satisfaction and longevity in Spain
Aïda Solé-Auró and Mariona Lozano present data on “satisfied life expectancy” by gender and educational level in Spain. One of their somewhat paradoxical findings is that even though Spaniards are … Read more
Prevalence of chronic diseases associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 in the Philippines
The Philippines has the one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. Using the 2016 National Disability Prevalence Survey, Jeofrey B. Abalos describes the prevalence of chronic … Read more
Education and sexually transmitted infections among Malawian adolescents
Barbara S. Mensch, Monica Grant and Erica Soler-Hampejsek estimate the effect of enrolment, grade attainment, and skills on herpes and HIV among Malawian adolescents. Grade attained is significantly associated with … Read more
How coronavirus charts can mislead us
Much of the data about the coronavirus epidemic and covid-19 is flawed. It is collected and reported in different ways by different countries, and almost certainly undercounts the number of … Read more
The child health benefits of parents’ education in diverse African families
Does union status affect the intergenerational transmission of advantage? Using data from 30 African countries, Emily Smith-Greenaway examines whether the health advantages associated with parents’ education are comparable for childrenwith … Read more
Family planning and child health care: the Peruvian case, 1996-2000
In 1996-2000, for the first time in Peru, surgical contraception was promoted among indigenous women, and sometimes imposed upon them. As Marianna Battaglia and Nina Pallarés show, its overall positive … Read more
Explaining disability trends in the United States, 1963-2015
Using the world’s longest running survey of health data, the National Health Interview Survey, Jona Schellekens shows that the decrease in mortality from cardiovascular disease in the US postponed the … Read more
Impact of obesity on life expectancy levels and trends in Europe
Since the 1980s, obesity prevalence has increased threefold in many European countries. Without obesity, life expectancy in 26 European countries in 2012 would have been, on average, 1.2 years higher … Read more
Caregiving: there’s more than meets the eye
Women are more likely to provide care to multiple family members or friends simultaneously at most ages throughout the life course except at the very oldest ages when gender differences … Read more
Stretched to breaking point? Caregiving grandparents and depression
Bruno Arpino and Madelin Gómez-León examine the effect on depression of combining grandchild care with other care roles among individuals aged 50 to 84 in Europe. Their results show that … Read more
Work stress among older employees in Germany: effects on health and retirement age
One way to tackle population ageing and its negative consequences on pension systems is to increase the official retirement age. However, most employees retire earlier than “expected”. Jana Mäcken tests the … Read more
Where, in India, is hospital birth safer for babies than home birth?
Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to reduce global neonatal mortality (NNM) to 12 deaths per 1,000 births by 2030. Reducing NNM in India is critical to this goal because it … Read more
The ‘Healthy Immigrant Effect’: the role of educational selectivity
Public interest in migration has intensified in recent times, and restrictive policies are gaining increasing political support. These are often based on misconceptions, such as migrants being responsible for spreading … Read more
Gender gaps in life expectancy and alcohol consumption in Eastern Europe
Female life expectancy is higher than that of males, and this gender gap is largest in Eastern Europe. Sergi Trias-Llimós and Fanny Janssen show that alcohol-attributable mortality explained more than … Read more
The political responsibility for sexual and reproductive health and rights
Political representatives are routinely accused of not following up on promises. They get less criticism for not speaking on citizen rights. In the case of sexual and reproductive health and … Read more
The ultimate inequality: vast mortality disparities across U.S. regions
The ultimate form of health inequality is death. Combining the concepts of region, division, and urban-rural residence in the U.S., Wesley James, Jeralynn Cossman, Julia Wolf highlight variation in mortality … Read more
Is retirement detrimental to later-life cognition?
A growing body of research has suggested that one way to preserve cognition in later-life is to delay retirement and continue to work into the later years. Irene Mosca and … Read more
Disability prevalence among Hispanic immigrants in the US
Disability in old age is known to be greater among Hispanic immigrants than US-born populations. However, little is known about immigrant disability at younger ages. Using ACS data, Mara Getz … Read more
Do adults in urban sub-Saharan Africa experience lower mortality?
Today, urban health conditions are often assumed to be universally superior to those of the rural sector. However, as Ashira Menashe-Oren and Guy Stecklov show, while child mortality is higher … Read more
Birth spacing and long-term health and mortality
A large body of previous work has suggested that both short and long birth intervals are associated with poor birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth, as … Read more
Present and future of female genital mutilation/cutting in Europe
Although previously unknown among natives in EU28, the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting is a present concern for European policymakers. As many as 500,000 foreign-born girls and women in Europe … Read more
Older workers in Latin America: better health but shorter working lives
Trends in labour force participation and health status of older adults in Latin America reveal a puzzling pattern: the greatly improved health (and labour) conditions of recent years have translated … Read more
U.S. teen mothers’ smoking risk in adulthood
After following about one thousand U.S. teen mothers into young adulthood, Stefanie Mollborn, Juhee Woo, and Richard Rogers, found that these women are 2.5 times as likely as other women … Read more
Dementia risk on the rise as old-age life expectancy increases
As America’s population ages, the number of Americans with dementia is increasing. Because people with dementia often need help with activities of daily living, the cost of caring for a … Read more
Smoking inequalities in France and the United States
While public health officials worry about the distressingly high levels of tobacco use across the world, they increasingly recognize that smoking also worsens inequalities in health and life expectancy.Trends in … Read more
Family planning in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya
In Kenya, rapid population growth has occurred amidst poor urban governance and limited employment opportunities, leading to widespread urban poverty that is concentrated in informal settlements or slums. In Nairobi, … Read more
Population density interacts with sanitation to predict child health
Studies on child health in developing countries often find that children are healthier in urban areas than in rural areas. There are many reasons for this disparity. People in urban … Read more
Did you know?
More than 9 out of 10 people do not think that the world is getting better. Nevertheless, it does not fit with the empirical evidence.
How comparable are self-reported health data on the older population in Europe?
Europe has large projected increases in the proportion of older people in the population (United Nations 2013). Therefore, high quality, representative longitudinal data on the older European population are essential … Read more
Did you know?
More than 80% of people living in urban areas (that monitor air pollution) are exposed to air quality levels that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) limits. While all regions … Read more
Health effects of working beyond State Pension Age in England
Paid work in adulthood is generally considered beneficial for physical and psychological health and well-being (Woodell and Burton 2006) but its effects at older ages are unclear. Research on work … Read more
Demography vs ethnography (or Understanding AIDS in Malawi)
Daniel Scott Smith, a historical demographer, said it well: demography has all the ingredients of the best novels, sex and death, but they hide the pleasure of the former under … Read more
Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights animation
It begins with the rights of one, it matters to everyone. Sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Infectious diseases in ageing populations: a neglected cause of mortality?
In countries with high life expectancies, death is predominantly the consequence of cancers and diseases of the circulatory system. Yet, infectious diseases have not disappeared from public health concerns, and … Read more
Counting who is dying in Sub-Saharan Africa and what they are dying from: an imperative for the post-2015 agenda
Introduction The need for timely and reliable mortality estimates is acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and about half of all under-five deaths. Yet, there is considerable uncertainty as to mortality … Read more
Progression de l’espérance de vie: un champ encore grand ouvert mais non sans limite
Si Jeanne Calment a vécu un peu plus de 122 ans et que rien n’indique clairement que ce record mondial soit une limite infranchissable, il est fort probable qu’une telle … Read more
La limite de la vie humaine
La doyenne de l’humanité, la française Jeanne Calment est décédée en 1997 à 122 ans et 5 mois. Bien que dûment vérifié et homologué par le groupe international de recherche … Read more
Obesity and development – maybe a fit?
Wikipedia informs us that “obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health, leading to … Read more
The population of Sri Lanka in transition: policy stance
The present world population of 7.3 billion is projected to increase to 8.5 billion or more by 2030, with almost 90 percent of the increase occurring in the developing countries, … Read more
Innovations in register data: the value of linkages to prescription databases illustrated by an analysis of underuse of medication among the unmarried
Data from registers that cover entire national populations have been extensively used in demography, other social sciences, and epidemiology over the last three decades.The Nordic countries in particular have very valuable … Read more