Volume 20 - Article 19 | Pages 467–494  

Trends in healthy life expectancy in Japan: 1986 - 2004

By Vanessa Yong, Yasuhiko Saito

Abstract

This article examines the increasing life expectancy of Japanese men and women in relation to their health from 1986 to 2004. We computed healthy life expectancy for seven available time-points using the prevalence-based Sullivan method. The results showed that, for both sexes and at all ages, the gains in life expectancy prior to 1995 were mostly in years of good self-rated health, while the gains thereafter were in years of poor self-rated health. The exception was for women at age 85, among whom there was an almost continuous increase in the number of years in poor health. The proportion of life spent in different health states suggested evidence of morbidity compression until 1995, followed by an expansion of morbidity.

Author's Affiliation

• Vanessa Yong - Nihon University, Japan EMAIL
• Yasuhiko Saito - Nihon University, Japan EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

The mystery of Japan's missing centenarians explained
Volume 26 - Article 11

Estimation of multi-state life table functions and their variability from complex survey data using the SPACE Program
Volume 22 - Article 6

Change in the Prevalence of Diseases Among Older Americans: 1984-1994
Volume 3 - Article 9

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