Revisiting Compositional Change to Understand Mortality Inequalities

Alyson A. Van Raalte, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR)
Yana Vierboom, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Mortality inequalities are socially patterned and increasing in many populations. Typically, social mortality gradients are measured by gaps in survival between predefined groups across one socioeconomic status (SES) dimension, or as a gradient across a population ranked by social position. In interpreting trends, the implicit assumption in both approaches is that the distribution of mortality-relevant personal characteristics that underlie social positions is static. We know this is not the case. Populations change. The distribution of personal characteristics in (sub)populations rises and falls over age, and over birth cohort. We argue that demographers have paid too little attention to how compositional change in the interaction, and intersection, of these characteristics relates to changing mortality inequalities.

Keywords: Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Mortality and Longevity, Decomposition analysis

See paper.