IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/dem/demres/v38y2018i3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High life expectancy and reversed socioeconomic gradients of elderly people in Mexico and Costa Rica

Author

Listed:
  • Luis Rosero-Bixby

    (Universidad de Costa Rica)

Abstract

Background: Some existing estimates suggest, controversially, that life expectancy at age 60 (LE60) of Latin American males is exceptionally high. Knowledge of adult mortality in Latin America is often based on unreliable statistics or indirect demographic methods. Objective: This study aims to gather direct estimates of mortality at older ages in two Latin American countries (Mexico and Costa Rica) using recent longitudinal surveys and to determine the socioeconomic status (SES) gradients for LE60. Methods: Data were collected from independent panels of approximately 7,000 older adults followed over more than a decade ‒ the MHAS and CRELES surveys. The age-specific death rates were modeled with Gompertz regression, and thousands of life tables were simulated to estimate LE60 and its confidence interval. Results: LE60 estimates obtained from MHAS and CRELES are similar to those obtained from traditional statistics, confirming the exceptionally high LE60 of men in the two countries. The expected gradients of higher LE60 with higher SES are not present, especially among males, who even show reverse gradients (some exaggerated by data issues). Conclusions: Vital statistics correctly estimate elderly mortality in Mexico and Costa Rica. The higher-than-expected LE60 among Latin American males in general, and particularly among low-SES individuals, seems to be real; their determinants should be thoroughly investigated. Contribution: This study shows with hard, reliable data, independent of traditional statistics, that elderly males in tropical Latin America enjoy an exceptionally high life expectancy and that SES gradients are absent or even reverse.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis Rosero-Bixby, 2018. "High life expectancy and reversed socioeconomic gradients of elderly people in Mexico and Costa Rica," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(3), pages 95-108.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:3
    DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol38/3/38-3.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luis Rosero-Bixby & William H. Dow, 2009. "Surprising SES Gradients in Mortality, Health, and Biomarkers in a Latin American Population of Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 64(1), pages 105-117.
    2. John Bongaarts & Griffith Feeney, 2002. "How Long Do We Live?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 13-29, March.
    3. Cassio M. Turra & Noreen Goldman, 2007. "Socioeconomic Differences in Mortality Among U.S. Adults: Insights Into the Hispanic Paradox," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 62(3), pages 184-192.
    4. Kenneth Hill & Yoonjoung Choi & Ian Timæus, 2005. "Unconventional approaches to mortality estimation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 13(12), pages 281-300.
    5. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10510 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Rofman, Rafael, 1994. "Diferenciales de mortalidad adulta en Argentina," Notas de Población, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), June.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "World Development Indicators 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13191.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiram Beltran-Sanchez & Noreen Goldman & Anne Pebley & Josefina Flores Morales, 2020. "Calloused hands, shorter life? Occupation and older-age survival in Mexico," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(32), pages 875-900.
    2. Anastasia A. Lam & Katherine Keenan & Genevieve Cezard & Hill Kulu & Mikko Myrskylä, 2023. "Inequalities in disability-free and disabling multimorbid life expectancy in Costa Rica, Mexico, and the United States," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2023-002, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    3. Ana C. Gómez-Ugarte & Víctor M. García-Guerrero, 2023. "Inequality Crossroads of Mortality: Socioeconomic Disparities in Life Expectancy and Life Span in Mexico Between 1990 and 2015," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Dana Glei & Magali Barbieri & Carolina Santamaría-Ulloa, 2019. "Costa Rican mortality 1950‒2013: An evaluation of data quality and trends compared with other countries," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(29), pages 835-864.
    5. Luis Rosero-Bixby, 2023. "The vanishing advantage of longevity in Nicoya, Costa Rica: A cohort shift," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 49(27), pages 723-736.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luis Rosero-Bixby & William H. Dow & David H. Rehkopf, 2013. "The Nicoya region of Costa Rica: a high longevity island for elderly males," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 11(1), pages 109-136.
    2. Gonzaga, Marcos Roberto & Queiroz, Bernardo L & Lima, Everton, 2017. "Compression of mortality: the evolution in the variability in the age of death in Latin America," OSF Preprints pdnfk, Center for Open Science.
    3. Gonzaga, Marcos Roberto & Queiroz, Bernardo L & Lima, Everton, 2017. "Compression of mortality: the evolution in the variability in the age of death in Latin America," OSF Preprints pdnfk_v1, Center for Open Science.
    4. J. Clark & Robert Lawson & Alex Nowrasteh & Benjamin Powell & Ryan Murphy, 2015. "Does immigration impact institutions?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 321-335, June.
    5. Muhammad Shafiullah & Ravinthirakumaran Navaratnam, 2016. "Do Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Enjoy Export-Led Growth? A Comparison of Two Small South Asian Economies," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 17(1), pages 114-132, March.
    6. Booth, Heather, 2006. "Demographic forecasting: 1980 to 2005 in review," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 547-581.
    7. Jan Fagerberg & Martin Srholec, 2017. "Global Dynamics, Capabilities and the Crisis," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 83-106, Springer.
    8. Maria Iacovou, 2013. "The relationship between incomes and living arrangements: variation between countries, over the life course, and over time," ImPRovE Working Papers 13/15, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    9. Juan Antonio Duro & Jordi Teixidó-Figueras & Emilio Padilla, 2017. "The Causal Factors of International Inequality in $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 Emissions Per Capita: A Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 683-700, August.
    10. Marijke Verpoorten, 2014. "Growth, poverty and inequality in Rwanda: a broad perspective," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 490896, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.
    11. Rute M. Caeiro & Pedro C. Vicente, 2020. "Knowledge of vitamin A deficiency and crop adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in Mozambique," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(2), pages 175-190, March.
    12. Alice N. Sindzingre, 2015. "Whatever Inconsistencies and Effects? Explaining the Resilience of the Policy Reforms Applied to Developing Countries," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(2), pages 159-178, August.
    13. Tanu M Goyal & Arpita Mukherjee, 2017. "Trade Agreements and Services Value Chain: The Case of India and Thailand," Applied Finance and Accounting, Redfame publishing, vol. 3(1), pages 11-23, February.
    14. Burhan, Nik Ahmad Sufian & Mohamad, Mohd Rosli & Kurniawan, Yohan & Sidek, Abdul Halim, 2014. "National Intelligence, Basic Human Needs, and Their Effect on Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 77267, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Sam R. Bell & K. Chad Clay & Amanda Murdie, 2019. "Join the Chorus, Avoid the Spotlight: The Effect of Neighborhood and Social Dynamics on Human Rights Organization Shaming," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(1), pages 167-193, January.
    16. Üngör, Murat, 2014. "Some thought experiments on the changes in labor supply in Turkey," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 265-272.
    17. James Thurlow & Giacomo Branca & Erika Felix & Irini Maltsoglou & Luis E. Rincón, 2016. "Producing Biofuels in Low-Income Countries: An Integrated Environmental and Economic Assessment for Tanzania," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 64(2), pages 153-171, June.
    18. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    19. Berthold, Norbert & Gründler, Klaus, 2014. "Wie entsteht Stagflation?," Discussion Paper Series 126, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Chair of Economic Order and Social Policy.
    20. Altaf Hussain & Ambar Khalil & Maryam Nawaz, 2013. "Macroeconomic Determinants Of Non-Performing Loans (Npl): Evidence From Pakistan," Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 1(2), pages 59-72, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    adult mortality; life expectancy; Latin America; health inequalities; Mexico; Costa Rica;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:dem:demres:v:38:y:2018:i:3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Editorial Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.demogr.mpg.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.