Mortality in Midlife for Subgroups in Germany

Peter Haan (), Anna Hammerschmid () and Julia Schmieder
Additional contact information
Peter Haan: DIW Berlin
Anna Hammerschmid: DIW Berlin

No 12116, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Case and Deaton (2015) document that, since 1998, midlife mortality rates are increasing for white non-Hispanics in the US. This trend is driven by deaths from drug overdoses, suicides, and alcohol-related diseases, termed as deaths of despair, and by the subgroup of low-educated individuals. In contrast, average mortality for middle-aged men and women continued to decrease in several other high-income countries including Germany. However, average mortality rates can disguise important differences between subgroups and the phenomenon of increasing mortality rates might also be present for subpopulations in these countries. Hence, we analyze how mortality in midlife is changing for several important demographic subgroups in Germany over the 1990 to 2015 period with a focus on deaths of despair. Our results show a very clear pattern: We find that mortality rates declined between 1990 and 2015, with no increases in deaths of despair for any of the subgroups. Thus, our findings starkly contrast with those for the US.

Keywords: deaths of despair; causes of death; lifetime inequality; mortality; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I14 J11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2019-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2019, 14, 100182

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Related works:
Journal Article: Mortality in midlife for subgroups in Germany (2019)
Journal Article: Mortality in midlife for subgroups in Germany (2019)
Working Paper: Mortality in Midlife for Subgroups in Germany (2019)
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