Abstract
The chapter describes diversity in life expectancy observed between and within European countries. It then proposes a possible explanatory thread and, finally, concludes with some speculation on the future of inequalities. Inequalities between countries are approached by focussing on three different perspectives: inequalities in terms of level of life expectancy, inequalities in terms of mortality patterns, and the difference between the highest life expectancy observed at a given time and the life expectancy resulting from a combination of the lowest age-specific mortality rates at the same point in time. Inequalities within countries will then be approached by selecting three criteria of difference: geographical differences, gender differences, and social differences. Trying to find a general explanation for all these different aspects of inequality is quite an impossible challenge. However, it can be helpful to follow one possible main thread to look at fundamental affinities between facts that could have been seen as quite different in nature at the outset. One possible basic idea is to consider that different histories have resulted in the current diversity. It is then useful to review changes in theoretical approaches towards health and mortality change from Omran’s epidemiologic transition theory to the more general health transition theories and, finally, to examine the historical movements of divergence and convergence that can explain the broad international diversity observed today. The next step will then be to discuss whether what seems true for inter-country inequalities can also be true for sub-national differences. Finally, some concluding remarks are made with regard to future perspectives.
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- 1.
On the occasion of the Symposium The Demography of Europe organized in honor of Professor Jan M. Hoem, I was invited to make a presentation on this topic. This chapter is based on this presentation.
- 2.
Estimates from current statistics in these countries are not as reliable as for the others. However, the estimates given by the Council of Europe for Armenia and Georgia for 2004 are not far from the results of a very recent deeper analysis (Duthé et al. 2009). In Turkey, rather good data are provided by surveys.
- 3.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, East Germany (GDR), West Germany (FRG), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.
- 4.
Not including the most recent one that came later, but including the so-called micro census of 1994.
- 5.
The size of these classes is of one standard deviation, and the central one is centred on the mean all-Russia value for the four periods mixed together. In fact, since the range of values is much wider above than below this mean value, the central class is the third one.
- 6.
Both of them come from historical demography reconstruction but the English methods tended to underestimate the role of migration while the French one could have over-estimated infant mortality.
- 7.
In fact, respiratory diseases account for most of the observed divergence.
- 8.
English studies distinguish 6 social classes : professional (I), managerial and technical (II), skilled non-manual (IIIN), skilled manual (IIIM), partly skilled manual (IV), and unskilled manual (V).
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Vallin, J. (2013). Inequalities in Life Expectancy Between and Within European Countries. In: Neyer, G., Andersson, G., Kulu, H., Bernardi, L., Bühler, C. (eds) The Demography of Europe. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8978-6_7
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