Volume 43 - Article 14 | Pages 365–400  

Distributionally adjusted life expectancy as a life table function

By Francisco Goerlich

Abstract

Background: Life expectancy is one of the most useful indicators of mortality and development in a given society but considers only one aspect of the distribution of length of life: the average.

Objective: Within an axiomatic framework we investigate alternative measures of life expectancy that take into account distributional considerations in the length of life of the generation in a period life table. Most of the literature studying inequality in the length of life distribution has used inequality tools from income distribution analysis, focusing on life expectancy and inequality as separate, albeit related, issues.

Contribution: We propose an alternative, integrated framework, which allows us to combine both dimensions in a single index and provide an axiomatic derivation that delivers the particular indexes to be used given a set of axioms. We illustrate the proposed index using data from the Human Mortality Database.

Author's Affiliation

• Francisco Goerlich - Universidad de Valencia, Spain EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Is single parenthood increasingly an experience of less-educated mothers? A European comparison over five decades
Volume 51 - Article 34    | Keywords: age, children, cross-national comparison, education, Europe, family life course, inequality, single motherhood

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality in Uruguay from 2020 to 2022
Volume 51 - Article 29    | Keywords: COVID-19, excess mortality, life expectancy, Uruguay

On the relationship between life expectancy, modal age at death, and the threshold age of the life table entropy
Volume 51 - Article 24    | Keywords: Gompertz law, life expectancy, lifespan variation, longevity, mode, mortality

Standardized mean age at death (MADstd): Exploring its potentials as a measure of human longevity
Volume 50 - Article 30    | Keywords: formal demography, life expectancy, mean age at death, mortality, standardization

How lifespan and life years lost equate to unity
Volume 50 - Article 24    | Keywords: life expectancy, life table entropy, life years lost, lifespan variation