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The boomer penalty: excess mortality among baby boomers in Canada and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Enrique Acosta

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Alain Gagnon

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Nadine Ouellette
  • Robert R. Bourbeau
  • Marilia R. Nepomuceno

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Alyson A. van Raalte

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

Studies suggest that, relative to adjacent cohorts, baby boomers in Canada and the United States have experienced a slowdown, or even a deterioration, in mortality improvements. These findings are counterintuitive and surprising since the unprecedented improvements in early-life conditions experienced by baby boomers should have led to declines in morbidity and mortality in later life, as was the case for earlier generations. The present study explores the mechanisms that could have produced this “excess” mortality among the baby boom cohorts in Canada and in three racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Using micro-level mortality data from vital statistics systems, we analyzed the contributions of the causes of death that are likely driving this cohort’s excess mortality, and their dynamics over time. The analyses were done using demographic decomposition, visual, and statistical methods. We found evidence of a higher susceptibility of the trailing edge boomers (those born around 1960) to behavioral causes of death: namely, mortality from drugs, alcohol, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, COPD, and suicide. Most of these causes contributed to the all-cause mortality disadvantage of baby boomers through sustained cohort effects that followed the cohorts over time. This finding calls into question the assumption that secular improvements in early life conditions lead to a monotonic decline in cohort mortality rates. Instead, there may be important disruptions in the continuous progress in health and mortality, and it is possible that the baby boom generation represents one such disruption. This insight calls for a rethinking of the mechanisms that drive current age-period-cohort mortality patterns. The mechanisms that can generate the observed cohort disadvantage of baby boomers – such as the higher levels of distress and frustration as well as the riskier attitudes toward drug use and sexual practices that are constituent of the boomer generation identity – are addressed and discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Enrique Acosta & Alain Gagnon & Nadine Ouellette & Robert R. Bourbeau & Marilia R. Nepomuceno & Alyson A. van Raalte, 2020. "The boomer penalty: excess mortality among baby boomers in Canada and the United States," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2020-003, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2020-003
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2020-003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lledó, Josep & Atance, David, 2023. "Analysing the impact of rising mortality in adult ages on financial and actuarial products," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    America; avoidable mortality; cohort analysis; excess mortality; exogenous mortality; mortality trends;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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