Increasing excess mortality among non-married elderly people in developed countries

Tapani Valkonen, Pekka Martikainen and Jenni Blomgren
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Tapani Valkonen: Helsingin Yliopisto (University of Helsinki)
Pekka Martikainen: Helsingin Yliopisto (University of Helsinki)
Jenni Blomgren: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (National Institute for Health and Welfare)

Demographic Research Special Collections, 2004, vol. 2, issue 12, 305-330

Abstract: This article analyses changes in marital status differences in mortality from approximately 1970 to 1995 among men and women aged 65-74 in ten developed countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden). Data were obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks and national statistical sources. According to the results there has been a trend towards increasing excess mortality among single men compared to married men and single, divorced and widowed women compared to married women in most western European countries and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. This has been brought about by a more rapid decline in mortality among married persons and a slower decline or even an increase among non-married persons. In Japan the excess mortality of non-married men and women decreased.

Keywords: mortality; developed countries; marital status; old age; trends; mortality differences; inequalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dem:drspec:v:2:y:2004:i:12

DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2004.S2.12

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