IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v56y2019i6d10.1007_s13524-019-00832-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Mechanism Underlying Change in the Sex Gap in Life Expectancy at Birth: An Extended Decomposition

Author

Listed:
  • Qi Cui

    (Australian National University)

  • Vladimir Canudas-Romo

    (Australian National University)

  • Heather Booth

    (Australian National University)

Abstract

The relationship between differential mortality rates and differences in life expectancy is well understood, but how changing differential rates translate into changing differences in life expectancy has not been fully explained. To elucidate the mechanism involved, this study extends existing decomposition methods. The extended method decomposes change in the sex gap in life expectancy at birth into three components capturing the effects of the sex difference in mortality improvement (ρ-effect), life table deaths density by age (f-effect), and remaining life expectancy by age (e-effect). These three effects oppose and augment each other, depending on relative change in sex-differential mortality rates. The new method is applied to period data for 35 countries and cohort data for 25 countries. The results demonstrate how the mechanism, involving the three effects, operates to determine change in the sex difference in life expectancy. We observe the pivotal importance of the f-effect, which is predominantly negative because of lower female mortality, in favoring narrowing rather than widening of the sex gap, in shifting the overall effect to younger ages, and in exaggerating fluctuations due to crisis mortality. The new decomposition provides a more detailed basis for substantive analyses examining change in differences in life expectancy.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Cui & Vladimir Canudas-Romo & Heather Booth, 2019. "The Mechanism Underlying Change in the Sex Gap in Life Expectancy at Birth: An Extended Decomposition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2307-2321, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:56:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s13524-019-00832-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-019-00832-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-019-00832-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-019-00832-z?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evgeny M. Andreev & Vladimir Shkolnikov & Alexander Begun, 2002. "Algorithm for decomposition of differences between aggregate demographic measures and its application to life expectancies, healthy life expectancies, parity-progression ratios and total fertility rat," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(14), pages 499-522.
    2. Marc Luy, 2003. "Causes of Male Excess Mortality: Insights from Cloistered Populations," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 29(4), pages 647-676, December.
    3. Young Kim & Donna Strobino, 1984. "Decomposition of the difference between two rates with hierarchical factors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 21(3), pages 361-372, August.
    4. Tomasz Wrycza & Annette Baudisch, 2012. "How life expectancy varies with perturbations in age-specific mortality," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 27(13), pages 365-376.
    5. James Vaupel & Vladimir Romo, 2003. "Decomposing change in life expectancy: A bouquet of formulas in honor of Nathan Keyfitz’s 90th birthday," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(2), pages 201-216, May.
    6. repec:nas:journl:v:115:y:2018:p:e832-e840 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Anonymous, 1950. "Council of Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 512-518, August.
    8. Evgeny M. Andreev & Vladimir M. Shkolnikov & Alexander Z. Begun, 2002. "Algorithm for decomposition of differences between aggregate demographic measures and its application to life expectancies, Gini coefficients, health expectancies, parity-progression ratios and total ," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2002-035, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    9. Anonymous, 1950. "Council of Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 333-335, May.
    10. Waldron, Ingrid, 1983. "Sex differences in human mortality: The role of genetic factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 321-333, January.
    11. Samuel Preston & Haidong Wang, 2006. "Sex mortality differences in The United States: The role of cohort smoking patterns," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(4), pages 631-646, November.
    12. Shiro Horiuchi & John Wilmoth & Scott Pletcher, 2008. "A decomposition method based on a model of continuous change," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(4), pages 785-801, November.
    13. Anonymous, 1950. "Council of Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 689-694, November.
    14. Anonymous, 1950. "Council of Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(1), pages 149-153, February.
    15. Vladimir Canudas-Romo & Michel Guillot, 2015. "Truncated cross-sectional average length of life: A measure for comparing the mortality history of cohorts," Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 69(2), pages 147-159, July.
    16. Michael Væth & Mette Vinther Skriver & Henrik Støvring, 2018. "The impact of proportional changes in age-specific mortality on life expectancy when the mortality rate is a log-linear function of age," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(23), pages 671-684.
    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. Marina Vergeles, 2021. "Evolution Of Sex Gap In Life Expectancy Across High-Income Countries: Universal Patterns And Country-Specific Attributes," HSE Working papers WP BRP 98/SOC/2021, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    2. Snorre Jallbjørn & Søren Fiig Jarner, 2022. "Sex Differential Dynamics in Coherent Mortality Models," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-26, September.

    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. Agnieszka Fihel & Marketa Pechholdová, 2017. "Between ‘Pioneers’ of the Cardiovascular Revolution and Its ‘Late Followers’: Mortality Changes in the Czech Republic and Poland Since 1968," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 33(5), pages 651-678, December.
    2. Roland Rau & Gabriele Doblhammer & Vladimir Canudas-Romo & Zhang Zhen, 2008. "Cause-of-Death Contributions to Educational Inequalities in Mortality in Austria between 1981/1982 and 1991/1992," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 265-286, September.
    3. Marina Vergeles, 2021. "Evolution Of Sex Gap In Life Expectancy Across High-Income Countries: Universal Patterns And Country-Specific Attributes," HSE Working papers WP BRP 98/SOC/2021, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    4. Fanny Janssen & Anthe van den Hende & Joop de Beer & Leo van Wissen, 2016. "Sigma and beta convergence in regional mortality: A case study of the Netherlands," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 35(4), pages 81-116.
    5. Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram & Soneji, Samir, 2011. "A unifying framework for assessing changes in life expectancy associated with changes in mortality: The case of violent deaths," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 38-48.
    6. Dan Valeriu Voinea, 2015. "The journalists' obligation of protecting the victims of sexual assault," Social Sciences and Education Research Review, Department of Communication, Journalism and Education Sciences, University of Craiova, vol. 2(1), pages 101-109, August.
    7. Coruhlu, Yakup Emre & Yildiz, Okan, 2017. "Geographical database for object-oriented land division modelling in Turkey," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 212-221.
    8. Danan Gu & Patrick Gerland & Kirill F. Andreev & Nan Li & Thomas Spoorenberg & Gerhard Heilig, 2013. "Old age mortality in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(38), pages 999-1038.
    9. Titus Corlatean, 2020. "Risks, Discrimination and Opportunities for Education during the Times of COVID-19 Pandemic," Proceedings of the 17th International RAIS Conference, June 1-2, 2020 004tc, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    10. Maria-Lluïsa Marsal-Llacuna, 2017. "Building Universal Socio-cultural Indicators for Standardizing the Safeguarding of Citizens’ Rights in Smart Cities," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 563-579, January.
    11. Shiro Horiuchi & Nadine Ouellette & Siu Lan Karen Cheung & Jean-Marie Robine, 2013. "Modal age at death: lifespan indicator in the era of longevity extension," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 11(1), pages 37-69.
    12. Crina Mihaela Verga, 2020. "Pilot Judgments Delivered by the European Court of Human Rights against Romania," Logos Universalitate Mentalitate Educatie Noutate - Sectiunea Stiinte Politice si Studii Europene/ Logos Universality Mentality Education Novelty - Section: Political Sciences and European Studies, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 38-46, December.
    13. Ó Fathaigh, Ronan & Helberger, Natali & Appelman, Naomi, 2021. "The perils of legally defining disinformation," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 10(4), pages 1-25.
    14. Vladimir Shkolnikov & Evgeny Andreev & Zhen Zhang & James Oeppen & James Vaupel, 2011. "Losses of Expected Lifetime in the United States and Other Developed Countries: Methods and Empirical Analyses," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(1), pages 211-239, February.
    15. Titus Corlatean, 2021. "The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Monitoring on the Implementation of the European Court of Human Rights Judgments," RAIS Conference Proceedings 2021 0020, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    16. Sanchez Marrugo, Betshy Paola, 2021. "Women Who Are Mad," MPRA Paper 111042, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bleeker, Amelia, 2020. "Creating an enabling environment for e-government and the protection of privacy rights in the Caribbean: A review of data protection legislation for alignment with the General Data Protection Regulati," Studies and Perspectives – ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for The Caribbean 46277, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    18. Vladimir M. Shkolnikov & Evgeny M. Andreev & Zhen Zhang & James E. Oeppen & James W. Vaupel, 2009. "Losses of expected lifetime in the US and other developed countries: methods and empirical analyses," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2009-042, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    19. Bryony Hoskins & Massimiliano Mascherini, 2009. "Measuring Active Citizenship through the Development of a Composite Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 459-488, February.
    20. Joseph Rikhof & Ashley Geerts, 2019. "Protected Groups in Refugee Law and International Law," Laws, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-47, October.

    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:spr:demogr:v:56:y:2019:i:6:d:10.1007_s13524-019-00832-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.