America’s high homicide rate
America leads advanced developed countries in terms of guns per capita and homicide rates, although with substantial variation by state, gender, and major racial/ethnic groups. Given its policies on police, … Read more
Mortality
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
Did you know?
Contributions to total population change of the balance of births over deaths and of immigration over emigration, by income group, from 1950-60 to 2040-50. Over the next few decades, migration … 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 2019-21 decline in global life expectancy
The Covid-19 pandemic has induced the first decline in global life expectancy since World War II. Substantial uncertainty remains about the exact pace of the decline, Patrick Heuveline notes, but … 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
Educational consequences of parental divorce and death in Europe
Children and youngsters who experience parental divorce or parental death often attain lower levels of education than their peers, but the impact of these adverse events is far from uniform, … Read more
Access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS and life expectancy in South Africa
Despite widespread prevalence of HIV/AIDS, South Africa has succeeded in drastically reducing mortality and increasing life expectancy, from 54 to more than 65 years in little over a decade (2006-17). … Read more
Cognition-driven demographic transition
The concept of demographic transition is a century old, but there is still no consensus about its drivers. Wolfgang Lutz highlights a recent reassessment of the theory, which adds cognition … Read more
Unpacking the mortality-fertility link in Malawi: the role of unintended fertility
Current explanations on the link between mortality and fertility imply that mortality exposure increases fertility desires. Conversely, Emily Smith-Greenaway, Sara Yeatman, and Abdallah Chilungo find that, in Malawi, increased mortality … 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
The death toll of COVID-19 in Mexico in 2020
The impact of COVID-19 on period life expectancy (LE) in Mexico in 2020 was strong, much stronger, for instance, than that of the 10-year war on drugs. Víctor M. García-Guerrero … 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
Maternal education and infant mortality decline in Indonesia
Better maternal education has been credited with making a major contribution to infant mortality decline. However, previous studies have overestimated the contribution of better maternal education. Using individual-level data from … Read more
Closely spaced births reduce survival chances of existing and future children
Understanding the determinants of child health and mortality is an important step towards reducing child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Philippe Bocquier, Carren Ginsburg, Ashira Menashe-Oren, Yacouba Compaoré, and Mark Collinson … 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.
Global trends in child loss: less and later
Child loss continues to be a common life event for women in the Global South. Diego Alburez-Gutierrez documents a historic opportunity to close the gap between the South and the … 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
From deprivation to neonatal and post-neonatal mortality in Bolivia
Filippo Temporin identifies three possible mechanisms whereby deprivation can affect neonatal and post-neonatal mortality. Using data from the 2008 Bolivia Demographic and Health Survey, however, he concludes that in a … 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
Does population aging erode democratic support?
Individual support for democracy in the population is essential for the stability of democracies. However, not much is known about how demographic change, such as population aging, affects attitudes in … 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
Comparing mortality variability between the United States and peer countries
Compared to other high-income countries, the United States has lower life expectancy and greater age-specific mortality variability, due in part to a higher concentration of deaths at young ages. Justin M. … 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
More children linked to lower mortality in contemporary Norway, with exceptions
In Norway, as the number of children increases, mortality generally falls or remains almost constant. However, Øystein Kravdal notes an exception when it comes to cardiovascular disease mortality: for men who … Read more
On the (changing) relationship between life expectancy and lifespan inequality
Life expectancy at birth is widely employed to measure longevity. However, as José Manuel Aburto, Ginevra Floridi and Ella Fegitz argue, another complementary dimension of great relevance in health research … Read more
Two centuries of change in the spatial inequality of mortality in France
Spatial inequalities in mortality decreased in France between 1881 and 1980 (“the century of convergence”), and life expectancy increased at national level. However, Florian Bonnet and Hippolyte d’Albis show that … Read more
Markedly lower child mortality in Malawi and Uganda with more educated mothers
Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, Liliana Andriano and Christiaan Monden show that, everything else equal, each additional year of maternal schooling reduces children’s probability of dying before age … 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
Migrant mortality advantage and the selection hypothesis
We frequently hear that international migrants are a selected subgroup of their origin populations. The veracity of this statement is generally just assumed or inferred from comparison on some specific … Read more
Missing twins and twin-singleton mortality convergence in Sub-Saharan Africa
Substantial literature documents that twins have higher mortality than singletons, but does not address whether this twin disadvantage eventually disappears, and if so, at what age. Roland Pongou, David Shapiro … 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
Longer birth intervals can reduce infant mortality in poor countries
Recent work on wealthy populations has called into question long-standing conclusions about the importance of birth spacing for infant health. Using data from 77 countries, Joseph Molitoris and colleagues show … Read more
Disparities in mortality and marriage create unequal kin safety nets in the USA
Heeju Sohn quantifies the diverging kin networks of adults with low and high socioeconomic status (SES) in the United States. In 2013, high SES adults had about 13 years with … Read more
Homicides in Latin America: a global health challenge
Homicide rates in Latin America are higher than elsewhere in the world, although with considerable variation within the region. In some countries, they are so high that they are significantly … Read more
Low migrant death rates: actual or artefactual?
The mortality of immigrants, even those from poor countries, is lower than that of natives, even in rich receiving countries. In this article, Matthew Wallace examines whether this advantage is … 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 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
Contrasting trends in centenarian lifespans in Denmark and Sweden
While the mean ages at death for Danish and Swedish centenarians were relatively constant at around 102 years for the cohorts born between 1870 and 1904, Anthony Medford shows that … Read more
Counting excess under-5 female mortality in Indian districts
Excess female mortality resulting from gender discrimination in the postnatal period was still common in India at the beginning of the century. Yet, little attention has been paid so far … Read more
Increasing (but insufficient?) optimism about future life expectancy
Official demographic forecasts have always been too timid about future increases in life expectancy, and according to Nico Keilman, continue to be so even today. There are reasons for this … 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
New data on life expectancy and standard of living in France
Surprising as it may seem, even in developed countries, systematic and large differences in survival exist between rich and poor populations. In France, for instance, Nathalie Blanpain tells us that … Read more
Child loss in Finland: does it induce divorce or additional fertility?
Together with Fjalar Finnäs and Mikael Rostila, Jan Saarela shows that in Finland the death of a minor child has only a modest influence on the parental divorce risk, whereas … Read more
Age, gender, alcohol, and traffic accidents in Brazil
According to the World Health Organization’s Global Report Status Report on Road Safety 2015, more than 1.2 million people die every year on the roads around the world, most of … Read more
Summertime, and the livin’ is easy … and longer
“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy” — so begins one of the most famous American songs, Summertime from the Gershwin brothers’ Porgy and Bess. Is the living really easier in … 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
Women’s schooling, child mortality, and fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa
Over time, women’s educational attainment in sub-Saharan Africa has been increasing (Barro and Lee, 2013), while infant and child mortality have been decreasing (United Nations, 2015). Both changes have contributed … Read more
Did you know
During the first eight months of 2017, the UN migration agency (IOM) recorded 3,514 deaths and disappearances of international migrants were worldwide. The Mediterranean continues to account for the vast majority … Read more
Recent trends in premarital fertility in sub-Saharan Africa
Age at first marriage has been rising throughout sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty-five years. The median age at first marriage has increased by an average of 1-2 years across … Read more
Eradicating induced abortion? Lessons from 20th Century France
In France, for two decades – roughly from the late 1930s to the late 1950s – induced abortion was not only prohibited, it was well and truly the target of … Read more
Vital registration in Africa: when will it be complete?
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CR/VS) is an essential administrative system in modern societies. The registration of births and deaths defines a number of basic rights and duties, and is … Read more
International differences in life expectancy gains (and in their cost)
Ongoing increases in life expectancies may slow the growth of living standards in developed countries. One reason for this is that reductions in mortality rates, which these days are generally … Read more
In France, male managers live six years longer than male manual workers
We all die one day, but we are not all equal in this respect, because death tends to strike at different ages. Take men and women, for instance: in France, … Read more
The 21st century – the century of centenarians
The emergence of large numbers of centenarians has accompanied the ageing of our populations. The number of people aged 100 years and over in England and Wales, for example, increased … 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
Are population policies effective?
Let us look at four types of objective that can legitimize population policies in a given context: reducing mortality (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiting fertility if the population is growing … Read more
Neonatal mortality trend in Indian states, 1981-2011
According to the most recent estimates, under-five mortality¹ in India is decreasing, but the annual number of under-five deaths is still as high as 1.2 million, the largest in the … Read more
Growing education-related disparities in length of life in the US
“Time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are … Read more
Fertility transition in India: sub-regional evidence
Population stabilization in India is of obvious global significance. According to the latest census, India’s population was 1,210 million in 2011, accounting for 17 percent of the global population; if … Read more
Lower world population growth? A matter of culture
The demographic transition, i.e., the passage from the ancient to the modern demographic regime of low fertility and low mortality, can be a highly heterogeneous process, and its impact on … Read more
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
Deaths exceed births in most of Europe, but not in the United States, and not in Texas
Prevalence of natural decrease In the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2009), 58 percent of the 1,391 counties of Europe had more deaths than birthscompared to just 28 percent … Read more
Is there a gender bias in births and child mortality in Indonesia?
Son preference and gender bias, which are revealed in births and child mortality, tend to be concentrated in South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Europe, and the South Caucasus—places where patrilineal … 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
Des projections démographiques jusqu’en 2100… Est-ce bien raisonnable?
En économie, il est rare que l’on se hasarde à des prévisions au-delà de quelques années. Il n’y a guère que les climatologues pour faire tourner des modèles sur 100 … Read more
Les politiques démographiques sont-elles efficaces ?
Examinons quatre types d’objectifs pouvant légitimer des politiques de population dans un contexte donné : réduire la mortalité (Vallin et Meslé, 2006), limiter la fécondité si la croissance démographique est trop … Read more
Black-White Mortality Differentials in the United States
In the United States, mortality rates differ across racial and ethnic groups. Although the gap in life expectancy between non-Hispanic blacks and non-Hispanic whites (blacks and whites, hereafter) has been declining, … Read more
Pauperia and Tycoonia: Population and Sustainability
Once upon a time, population was a central issue in the international debate on the future of the planet. Despite profound ideological and political differences among the major players of … Read more