Changes in Life Expectancy and Cause-Specific Mortality during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Latin America’s Southern Cone: A Comparative Study between Argentina, Chile and Uruguay

Laura Acosta, CIECS-CONICET y Universidad Nacional De Córdoba
Catalina Torres, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Mariana Paredes, Universidad de la Republica
Gonzalo De Armas, Programa de Poblacion, Universidad de la Republica
Leandro Mariano González, CIECS (CONICET/UNC)
Enrique Pelaez, United Nations Population Fund

This paper aims to compare the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy at birth and mortality by cause in the Southern Cone countries of Latin America: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. These countries have advanced population ageing in relation to the rest of the region, and it is precisely the elderly population who was most affected by COVID-19. In this study, the total effects of the pandemic are measured through the loss or gain in life expectancy at birth between 2019 and each pandemic year from 2020 to 2022, for each sex and country. Furthermore, we decompose those total gaps into the contributions by age and cause of death. This analysis is complemented with a description of the institutional context of the measures implemented in each of the three countries on both social isolation and vaccination and the effects they had on COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 mortality. The results show that the largest drop in life expectancy occurred in the year 2021 in the three countries, with the male population of Argentina being the most affected and the female population of Uruguay the least.

Keywords: Mortality and Longevity, Health and Morbidity, Population, Shocks and Pandemics, Population Policies

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