1,720,970 research outputs found
Rethinking mortality deceleration
No full textThe evolution of mortality shows a marked deceleration at older ages. This phenomenon is generally thought to be an effect of selection: mortality decelerates because it progressively selects the most robust individuals in the cohort. Other processes, however, may contribute to mortality deceleration as well. People may not be passive in the face of ageing and may try to counter it by modifying their behaviours and lifestyles. In this paper, I propose a method to test whether selection is to be considered the unique mechanism responsible for mortality deceleration. I applied this method to the life tables of selected female cohorts drawn from the Human Mortality Database. The results indicate mortality decelerates more rapidly than predicted by the selection theory
What Shapes population age structures in the long run
No full textWe present and test a hypothesis that, to the best of our knowledge, is new in the demographic field: the age structure of any population in any period tends towards a specific shape, which can be identified in advance. This “attractor” is the age structure of the current stationary population, which we label RAS, or “reference age structure”. There is no mathematical demonstration for this tendency: however, we show that it exists in practice, measure the speed of the convergence (of the current on the reference age structure), and discuss the theoretical and practical utility of the notion
Migration from the United States to the European Union: trends and characteristics
No full textThis paper analyzes emigration from the United States to the European Union. Few empirical studies have been conducted on this topic and theorization on this type of migration is essentially inexistent. In this paper, we tried to fill this gap and to show how migration between advanced economies is crucial in understanding different and under-researched aspects of international migration. Specifically, the magnitude of migration from the US appears “too large” to be explained through classic migration theories but “too small” when compared to the overall movements originating in other developed countries. As to the main results, the lower migration propensity showed by the US born population compared with that of the population born in other advanced economies seems to be related to its historical evolution: the US has never had mass emigration and US colonialism was historically less relevant, at least compared to Europe. Geographical and cultural proximity assume instead a major relevance in explaining US emigration patterns and magnitude. Focusing on the characteristics of US emigration, we found, that the interplay of various specific forces have created over time a composite profile of this population, which – being characterized by specific and various motivations – looks, generally speaking, heterogeneous. More specifically, the profile of US emigrants in the European Union Member States is, we have found, essentially linked to family formation and to economic integration between EU and US society. We conclude that migration between advanced economies is relevant internationally, but largely ignored at a scientific level. The more interactions between economies are destined to augment, the more an understanding of their consequences for origin and destination countries becomes a priority
Gender differential in mortality in post-reproductive age. The role of the fertility decline in Italy and Europe
Get PDFSummary: In this paper, we highlight the close link between fertility decline and the emergence of the female survival advantage in post reproductive age (50 years and over). We performed an ecological analysis on the evolution of gender differentials in mortality in 16 Italian administrative regions and in 16 European countries. In both cases, we kept under control the possible confounding effects due to the spreading of smoking, the general decline of mortality, the presence of migration, the outbreak of wars and the diffusion of the obesity pandemics. Two main results emerge. First, the rise of a significant mortality differential between sexes is a relatively recent phenomenon, whose onset dates back to the birth cohorts of the last decades of the 19th century. Second, this phenomenon is associated, at the aggregate level, to the process of fertility decline
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