1. Lecture 12 Mortality

2. Mortality: Declining mortality is at the root of present world population growth, not rising fertility. Lifespan: How long a person can possibly live. (122 years and 164 days) Longevity: Usually measured by life expectancy. Average length of life.

3. Longevity Biological and social factors affect longevity. Social factors: -- Social and economic infrastructure (e.g., how wealth is distributed, water cleaned) -- Lifestyle (e.g., smoking, excessive alcohol use, drug use, fatty food, little or no exercise)

4. Longevity Phillips (1974) suggests: -- mortality from suicide tends to increase after a famous person commits a well- publicized suicide. -- Fatal automobile crashes tend to increase after same suicides. -- The Chinese who believe themselves to be ill-fated have lower life expectancy. -- Murder-suicide stories trigger subsequent murder-suicides, private airplane crashes.

5. Causes of Death 1.Infectious and parasitic diseases (Plague, measles, malaria, HIV/AIDS) 2.Degenerative diseases (heart diseases, diabetes, stroke, liver diseases) 3.Social and economic environment (accidents, suicides, wars)

6. Social and economic environment Social and economic infrastructures. Their effects are less direct. Homicide and suicides Natural disasters plus social causes (Tsunami, earthquakes etc) Accidents (such as auto accidents/ disguised suicides)

7. Mortality differentials Social Status -- Occupation -- Income and education -- Race and ethnicity -- Marital Status Gender Age Rural-urban differentials

8. Mortality Differentials: Occupation 10 deadliest occupations: 1.Fishing 2.Timber cutting and logging 3.Airplane pilots and navigators 4. Structural metal workers 5. Extractive occupations 6.Water transportation workers 7.Garbage collectors 8.Public transportation attendants 9. Construction workers 10.Taxicab drivers and chauffeurs

9. Mortality Differentials: Occupation Research shows mortality rates for laborers 19 percent above the average. Similarly, 20 percent below the average for professionals. Study on English civil servants suggests, the higher the pay grade, the lower the mortality rate. Under socialism in Bulgaria, manual workers had higher death rates.

10. Mortality Differentials: Income Studies consistently show as income went up, mortality went down (Kitagawa & Hauser, 1960; McDonough et al., 1997)

11. Mortality Differentials: Education As with income, marked decline in the risk of deaths as education increases. For women, education makes even bigger differences in mortality. A white woman with college education can expect to live 10 years longer than a woman with 4 years of schooling.

12. Mortality Differentials: Race and Ethnicity Racial and ethnic differences often translate into social/economic disadvantages. African-Americans have higher rates of unemployment and higher-than-average death rates.

13. Mortality Differentials: Marital Status Married people tend to live longer than unmarried people. Married people are selective of healthy people. Suicide rates are double for single men, relative to married men. Married men’s social and psychological adjustments are higher. Divorced men tend to have higher death rates.

14. Mortality Differentials: Gender Throughout the animal kingdom, females survive longer than males, indicating a biological superiority of females. Social factors (status of women) seem to be associated with life expectancy. In South Asia, women have been least likely to outlive men. Strong son preference means that the health of girls may be neglected relative to boys.

15. Mortality Differentials: Gender Research in India (Kishor, 1993) suggests in the rice-growing regions, where women’s work is highly valued, life expectancy for women is higher than in wheat-growing regions, where men do much of the work.

16. Mortality Differentials: Age Fragility and dependency in infancy translate into high infant mortality. Infant mortality rate in Bangladesh: 52 Infant mortality rate in Africa: 157 per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality decreases as families live closer to a physician (Paul, 1991). Education and income are related to low infant death rates in developed countries.

17. Rural-Urban Differentials Early differences were due to favorable conditions in the countryside. Generally, medical advances and environmental improvements have benefitted the urban population more than the rural.

18. Thank You