Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?

The limits to human lifespan are a widely discussed topic. Yet, later-life mortality and longevity are generally studied from a genetic perspective, while the social dimension has received less attention. This paper gives a systematic overview of trends in later-life mortality and longevity for coh...

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Main Author: Rick Mourits
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Instititute of Social History 2017-01-01
Series:Historical Life Course Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.openjournals.nl/index.php/hlcs/article/view/9336
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spelling doaj-54e02e3b2aef41bf9e58975ee6264a1a2021-04-07T10:07:59ZengInternational Instititute of Social HistoryHistorical Life Course Studies2352-63432017-01-01410.51964/hlcs9336Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?Rick Mourits The limits to human lifespan are a widely discussed topic. Yet, later-life mortality and longevity are generally studied from a genetic perspective, while the social dimension has received less attention. This paper gives a systematic overview of trends in later-life mortality and longevity for cohorts that were born in the late 18th and 19th century, and shows that the average population and the top survivors from cohorts born between 1800 and 1850 were already growing older. These improvements in human survival were similar for both of the sexes among the top survivors, whereas gender equality in the life expectancy at age 50 grew rapidly in cohorts born after 1880. Differences between populations were determined by the disease environment, availability of food, and local diets, while lifestyles and social support from spouses and kin affected later-life expectancy and longevity within these populations. These findings have major implications on how we view the demographic and epidemiological transition, and forces us to reconsider existing explanations for improvements in survival during the 19th century. However, in order to find out the determinants of later-life mortality, external validity of results, blind spots due to missing data, and familial clustering need to be studied more thoroughly. https://www.openjournals.nl/index.php/hlcs/article/view/9336Socioeconomic statusSocial supportHouseholdEnvironmental effectsSex differencesHistorical trends
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Rick Mourits
spellingShingle Rick Mourits
Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
Historical Life Course Studies
Socioeconomic status
Social support
Household
Environmental effects
Sex differences
Historical trends
author_facet Rick Mourits
author_sort Rick Mourits
title Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
title_short Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
title_full Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
title_fullStr Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
title_full_unstemmed Later-Life Mortality and Longevity in Late-18th and 19th-Century Cohorts. Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Heading?
title_sort later-life mortality and longevity in late-18th and 19th-century cohorts. where are we now, and where are we heading?
publisher International Instititute of Social History
series Historical Life Course Studies
issn 2352-6343
publishDate 2017-01-01
description The limits to human lifespan are a widely discussed topic. Yet, later-life mortality and longevity are generally studied from a genetic perspective, while the social dimension has received less attention. This paper gives a systematic overview of trends in later-life mortality and longevity for cohorts that were born in the late 18th and 19th century, and shows that the average population and the top survivors from cohorts born between 1800 and 1850 were already growing older. These improvements in human survival were similar for both of the sexes among the top survivors, whereas gender equality in the life expectancy at age 50 grew rapidly in cohorts born after 1880. Differences between populations were determined by the disease environment, availability of food, and local diets, while lifestyles and social support from spouses and kin affected later-life expectancy and longevity within these populations. These findings have major implications on how we view the demographic and epidemiological transition, and forces us to reconsider existing explanations for improvements in survival during the 19th century. However, in order to find out the determinants of later-life mortality, external validity of results, blind spots due to missing data, and familial clustering need to be studied more thoroughly.
topic Socioeconomic status
Social support
Household
Environmental effects
Sex differences
Historical trends
url https://www.openjournals.nl/index.php/hlcs/article/view/9336
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