An innovative visual approach to the simultaneous study of two dimensions of progress in longevity: an application to French and German regions

TL;DR

The paper introduces a new visual method to study both life expectancy and mortality inequalities across regions in France and Germany.

Contribution

A novel graphical tool is introduced to simultaneously analyze mortality trends and social inequalities in lifespan.

Findings

France shows steady declines in mortality and regional inequalities over recent decades.

Germany experienced significant progress in the 1990s, followed by slower progress and recent divergence in regional mortality trends.

The method allows meaningful comparisons between populations with different mortality rates.

Abstract

Both enhancing life expectancy and decreasing inequalities in lifespan between social groups are significant goals for public policy. To date, however, methodological tools to study progress in both dimensions simultaneously have been lacking. There is also a consensus that absolute and relative inequalities in lifespan must be studied together.

We introduce a novel graphical representation that combines national mortality rates with both absolute and relative measures of social inequality in mortality. To illustrate our approach, we analyze French and German data stratified by place of residence.

For all-age mortality, in France we find a steady pace of decline in both mortality and in regional inequalities in mortality over recent decades. In Germany, substantial progress was made in the 1990s, mostly driven by convergence between eastern and western Germany, followed by a period of slower progress. Age-specific analyses for Germany reveal a worrying divergence in regional trends at ages 35–74 in recent years, which is particularly pronounced among women.

Our novel visual approach offers a way to simultaneously examine two dimensions of progress in longevity, and facilitates meaningful comparisons between populations, even when their current mortality rates differ. The applied methods can be easily reproduced in any country for which long-term mortality series stratified by region, or any relevant socioeconomic characteristic, are available. It is useful for both scientific analysis and policy advice.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12963-024-00332-2.

Figures