Special Collection 2 - Article 12 | Pages 305–330  

Increasing excess mortality among non-married elderly people in developed countries

By Tapani Valkonen, Pekka Martikainen, Jenni Blomgren

This article is part of the Special Collection 2 "Determinants of Diverging Trends in Mortality"

Abstract

This article analyses changes in marital status differences in mortality from approximately 1970 to 1995 among men and women aged 65-74 in ten developed countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden). Data were obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks and national statistical sources.
According to the results there has been a trend towards increasing excess mortality among single men compared to married men and single, divorced and widowed women compared to married women in most western European countries and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. This has been brought about by a more rapid decline in mortality among married persons and a slower decline or even an increase among non-married persons. In Japan the excess mortality of non-married men and women decreased.

Author's Affiliation

• Tapani Valkonen - Helsingin Yliopisto (University of Helsinki), Finland EMAIL
• Pekka Martikainen - Helsingin Yliopisto (University of Helsinki), Finland EMAIL
• Jenni Blomgren - Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos (National Institute for Health and Welfare), Finland EMAIL

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The effects of socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of regions on the spatial patterns of the Second Demographic Transition in Finland
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Characteristics of urban regions and all-cause mortality in working-age population: Effects of social environment and interactions with individual unemployment
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Educational differentials in male mortality in Russia and northern Europe: A comparison of an epidemiological cohort from Moscow and St. Petersburg with the male populations of Helsinki and Oslo
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Monitoring of trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality: Experiences from a European project
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