Changes in the Subnational Lifespan Inequality and Disease-Specific Contribution from 2006 to 2016 — Evidence from China

Mengxue Chen , Australian National University

The past decades have witnessed China’s rapid socioeconomic development and an overall increase in life expectancy. Previous research suggests that the health inequality situation in China has improved too, with the observation that the gap between life expectancy in the urban and rural population is gradually shrinking. However, not many studies have further examined the subnational lifespan disparity (heterogeneity level of lifespan within a subnational population) or break down the changes in population health outcome to understand the reasons and components. This study quantifies the health inequality level of urban and rural population in China with lifespan disparity (an indicator measuring inequality in lifespan with lost years of life in a population), then use decomposition methods to analyse the age-specific contribution of changes in life expectancy between 2006 to 2016, discuss the urban-rural difference in lifespan disparity, and look into the lifespan inequality contributed by the different causes of death in the urban and rural sector respectively.

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 Presented in Session 81. Global and Comparative Perspectives on Health and Mortality