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Sex Differences in Mortality at the Local Level: An Analysis of Belgian Municipalities

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  • Jon Anson

    (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

Abstract

Explanations for the consistentfemale mortality advantage have ranged from thebiological, through the behavioural to thesocial, but we are still far from asatisfactory explanation. The current mortalityadvantage, which women enjoy in almost allsocieties and age groups, is not a historicaluniversal. Indeed, it may even be a uniquedevelopment of the 20th century. Even ifthis is the case, however, this does not makeit a necessary corollary of low mortality.Human mortality reflects the pattern of socialrelationships, standards of living, livingarrangements, and patterns of power andinequality in the society, and althoughmortality levels are similar for men and forwomen, they nonetheless display importantdifferences. These differences, in their turn,reflect the pattern of relationships betweenmen and women in the society. The presentanalysis looks at mortality levels anddifferences between men and women in Belgium.We focus on aggregate effects at themunicipality level (the smallest level oflocal government), and show that mortality isnegatively associated with high standards ofliving; familial solidarity; immigrantconcentration and a stable, locally born,population. It is positively associated with ahigh tendency to cohabitation. Male mortalityis more sensitive to social conditions than isfemale mortality so that as conditions improvethe female mortality advantage declines. Wealso show that net of these conditions thereremains a mortality disadvantage inWallonia, and this can only partly be explainedin terms of social differences between the twomajor regions of the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Jon Anson, 2003. "Sex Differences in Mortality at the Local Level: An Analysis of Belgian Municipalities," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 19(1), pages 1-28, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:19:y:2003:i:1:d:10.1023_a:1022179727211
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1022179727211
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jon Anson, 2004. "The Migrant Mortality Advantage: A 70 Month Follow-up of the Brussels Population," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 191-218, September.
    3. Martin Gaechter & Peter Schwazer & Engelbert Theurl, 2012. "Stronger Sex but Earlier Death: A Multi-level Socioeconomic Analysis of Gender Differences in Mortality in Austria," DANUBE: Law and Economics Review, European Association Comenius - EACO, issue 1, pages 1-23, March.
    4. Martin Gächter & Engelbert Theurl, 2010. "Socioeconomic Environment and Mortality: A two-level Decomposition by Sex and Cause of Death," NRN working papers 2010-10, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    5. Marc Luy & Paola Di Giulio, 2006. "The impact of health behaviors and life quality on gender differences in mortality," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-035, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Martin Gächter & Engelbert Theurl, 2010. "Convergence of the Health Status at the Local Level: Empirical Evidence from Austria," NRN working papers 2010-09, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    7. Jeroen Spijker & Frans van Poppel & Leo van Wissen, 2007. "Explaining new trends in the gender gap of mortality: Insights from a regional trend- analysis of the Netherlands," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 5(1), pages 61-92.

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