Gradients in Potential Years of Life by Socio-Economic Group in Ireland

Eamon O'Shea and Sheelagh Connolly
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Sheelagh Connolly: Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway

No 51, Working Papers from National University of Ireland Galway, Department of Economics

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to investigate socio-economic mortality differentials for men aged between 15 and 69 in Ireland, using years of potential life lost (YPLL) as a measure of premature mortality. This measure differs from the standardised mortality ratio (SMR) in that it takes into account not only the number of deaths but also the age at death. The study is based on mortality data supplied by the Central Statistics Office and population data taken from the Census for the years 1981, 1986 and 1991. The results show significant differentials in YPLL between professional/managerial occupations and those in semi-skilled or unskilled manual categories. In 1981 and 1986 these differentials were greater when the YPLL measure was used rather than the conventional SMR, reflecting the fact that not only do poorer people have a higher risk of mortality, but they also die at younger ages. This trend was not evident in 1991. However, deterioration in the quality of the data in the decade 1981-1991 means that any analysis of trends in this area is difficult and subject to major qualification.

JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001, Revised 2001
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Published in Applied Economics Letters Vol.3 No. 7, 1996

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