title: How much of the variation in mortality across Norwegian municipalities is explained by the socio-demographic characteristics of the population?
abstract: The goal was to find out whether much of the variation in mortality between the 430 Norwegian municipalities could be attributed to socio-demographic characteristics of the population - operating through individual- or aggregate-level mechanisms. Two-level discrete-time hazard models were estimated for women and men at age 60-89 in 2000-2008, using registers covering the entire population. Year, age and a municipality-level random term were included in the first step. When socio-demographic characteristics of the individual and others in the municipality were added, the variance of the random term was reduced by 73-80% almost exclusively because of aggregate-level effects. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Electronic address: okravdal@econ.uio.no.
authors.forename: Øystein
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Kravdal
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alvær
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Kåre
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bævre
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Jonas M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kinge
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Jørgen R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Meisfjord
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Ólöf A
authors.initials: ÓA
authors.lastname: Steingrímsdóttir
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
authors.forename: Strand Bjørn
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Heine
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002947:Cities; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Geographic variation; Mortality; Multilevel; Municipality; Norway