The Impact of Violence in Venezuelan Life Expectancy and Lifespan Inequality

Jenny Garcia , Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Jose Aburto, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

During the first decade of the 21st century, Venezuela had one of the world's highest mortality rates due to violence. We quantified the impact of violence-related mortality and other causes of death on slowing down life expectancy gains and on lifespan inequality from 1996 to 2013. Changes in life expectancy and lifespan inequality by sex were decomposed by age and causes of death. For females, life expectancy rose by +3.8 years and lifespan inequality fell by -1.2 years in 1996-2013. For males, life expectancy increased by only 1.4 months yearly and lifespan inequality even increased by almost one year throughout the period. The impact of violence-related deaths among young men reversed gains in male life expectancy and increased lifespan inequality. Consequently, males in Venezuela are not leaving less on average, but facing larger uncertainty in their eventual death due to premature mortality caused by the upsurge of violence.

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 Presented in Session 5. Health & Mortality 1