Ecological aspects of historical and contemporary Swedish and Danish mortality

Abstract

The quality of professional recording and processing of life data untold, Denmark ranks low in international comparisons of expected length of life at birth in the EEC/EU and among first-world countries. For example, cross-sectional life expectancy has been higher in Sweden than in Denmark since the early 1960s to now. This has been a blow to the national pride. Is the better contemporary Swedish life expectancy associated with selection spurred by different timing of the modern Swedish and Danish long term decline of mortality? Or could it be rooted in more expedient Swedish behavior and better preventive and curative measures introduced in the second half of the twentieth century? Hansen (2013) proposed a multivariate hazard model aiming at separating ecological factors in terms of endogenous biological from exogenous effects in human mortality. He explored some of its analytic potentials by fitting the model to empirical cohort mortality of Swedish males born in 1760 and 1900 using stochastic micro-simulation. The approach and not a few of the results question conventional demographic wisdom and inference based on over-simplifying statistical modeling in the life sciences.
This study extends Hansen (2013) to comparative demographic analysis of historical, contemporary and projected of mortality in Sweden and Denmark as compiled and predicted by Statistics Sweden and DREAM/Statistics Denmark and their predecessors.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSymposium i Anvendt Statistik 2014
EditorsPeter Linde
Number of pages13
Place of PublicationKbh.
PublisherKøbenhavns Universitet og Danmarks Statistik
Publication date2014
Pages131-143
ISBN (Print)978-87-501-2111-4
Publication statusPublished - 2014
EventSymposium i Anvendt Statistik - Københavns Universitet, Denmark
Duration: 27 Jan 201429 Jan 2014

Conference

ConferenceSymposium i Anvendt Statistik
LocationKøbenhavns Universitet
Country/TerritoryDenmark
Period27/01/201429/01/2014

Keywords

  • Faculty of Social Sciences

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