Life Expectancy Differences in Cuba: Are Females Losing Their Advantage Over Males?

Abstract

Cuba is a developing country at an advanced stage of ageing, with a population growth rate around zero since 2006. The Cuban population shows a high life expectancy (77 years in 2007) and low infant mortality (below 5 per thousand births). Nonetheless, it has maintained a small sex gap (around 4 years) in life expectancy at birth over the last century. This paper examines the evolution of life expectancy at birth, and trends in specific causes of death. The differentials in life expectancy by sex and across time are examined in order to shed light on the narrower sex gap that Cuba shows compared to other countries. Data on population and specific death rates published by the National Statistics and Information Office and Public Health Ministry of Cuba are used. We decompose the mortality rates to determine the impact of age- and cause- specific death rates on the sex differential at three points in time; and on the life expectancy of each sex, from 1987 to 1995, and 1995 to 2007. Our results show that Cuba presents a mix of mortality patterns, with most of the deaths attributable to chronic or degenerative diseases. However, there is also a sizeable proportion of avoidable deaths such as those due to external causes, respiratory diseases or diabetes. Differences between periods are clear. During the economic crisis, male survivorship was seriously constrained while females barely kept their advantage of half of a year; but, in the recovery period, males recovered faster than females.