Inequality in mortality decreased among the young while increasing for older adults, 1990-2010.
Many recent studies point to increasing inequality in mortality in the United States over the past 20 years. These studies often use mortality rates in middle and old age. We used poverty level rankings of groups of U.S. counties as a basis for analyzing inequality in mortality for all age groups in 1990, 2000, and 2010. Consistent with previous studies, we found increasing inequality in mortality at older ages. For children and young adults below age 20, however, we found strong mortality improvements that were most pronounced in poorer counties, implying a strong decrease in mortality inequality. These younger cohorts will form the future adult U.S. population, so this research suggests that inequality in old-age mortality is likely to decline.
Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08542, USA. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 53072 Bonn, Germany. jcurrie@princeton.edu.
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J
Currie
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 53072 Bonn, Germany. Department of Economics, University of Zurich, 8031 Zurich, Switzerland. Center for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE, UK.
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Schwandt
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D011156:Population Density; D011203:Poverty; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult