Arbeitsbereich

Demografische Daten

Auf einen Blick Projekte Publikationen Team

Projekt

Sterblichkeit und Gesundheit in Deutschland

Dmitri A. Jdanov, Domantas Jasilionis, Marina Kolobova, Isabella Marinetti, Vladimir M. Shkolnikov, Alyson van Raalte; in Zusammenarbeit mit Sebastian Klüsener, Pavel Grigoriev (beide: Federal Institute for Population Research, Wiesbaden, Deutschland), Rembrandt D. Scholz (MPIDR)

Ausführliche Beschreibung

In this project, we analyze health and mortality in Germany, including but not limited to the following research areas: long-term mortality trends by causes of death, the East-West mortality gap, regional mortality trends and patterns, and socioeconomic mortality differentials. We also investigate the determinants behind the longstanding German disadvantage in life expectancy compared to other high-income countries.

Despite having some of the highest health care expenditures per capita in the world and a modern, equitable health care system, along with other assets such as a strong social security system, Germany has been a long-term laggard in life expectancy among Western countries. The German longevity disadvantage is attributable to excess mortality among older adults, which is mainly explained by higher levels of cardiovascular disease mortality, even compared to those of other longevity laggards, including the US and the UK. Scarce contextual data suggest that this unfavorable pattern may be at least partially explained by persisting gaps in prevention and early detection, as well as poor primary health care performance in managing chronic diseases.

The project also explores East-West mortality disparities in Germany and the process of convergence. It was found that health progress in eastern Germany has been largely due to reductions in cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. Despite extensive research, the factors underlying the marked reductions in mortality in eastern Germany are still not fully understood. We thus use reconstructed cause-of-death series for eastern and western Germany to help uncover the determinants of this positive development.

Reducing mortality disparities between socioeconomic groups has been an important public health priority worldwide. However, the analysis of inequalities by socioeconomic status in Germany is complicated by the lack of appropriate data. The project fills this gap by using German Pension Fund data. The new data allowed us to assess the socioeconomic gradient of German mortality and its changes over time at both the national and regional levels.

Within the framework of the project, continuous mortality data series were prepared for the 16 German federal states. These data series cover the period since 1980. The data were processed in accordance with the standards and methods of the Human Mortality Database (HMD), and are published on the HMD website.

Publikationen

Grigoriev, P.; Sauerberg. M.; Jasilionis, D.; van Raalte, A. A.; Klüsener, S.:

Sterblichkeitsentwicklung in Deutschland im internationalen Kontext

Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz 67, 493–503. (2024)    

Jasilionis, D.; van Raalte, A. A.; Klüsener, S.; Grigoriev, P.:

Re: The pitfalls of focusing on cardiovascular disease mortality to explain differences in life expectancy [Correspondence]

European Journal of Epidemiology 39, 339–341. (2024)    

Jasilionis, D.; van Raalte, A. A.; Klüsener, S.; Grigoriev, P.:

The underwhelming German life expectancy

European Journal of Epidemiology 38:8, 839–850. (2023)    

Kolobova, M.; Jdanov, D. A.; Jasilionis, D.; Shkolnikov, V. M.; Rau, R.:

Variation in mortality burden of the COVID-19 pandemic across federal states in Germany

European Journal of Public Health 33:5, 930–936. (2023)    

Grigoriev, O.; Doblhammer, G.:

Does the mortality of individuals with severe disabilities contribute to the persistent East–West mortality gap among German men?

European Journal of Population 38:2, 247–271. (2022)    

Grigoriev, P.; Pechholdová, M.; Mühlichen, M.; Scholz, R. D.; Klüsener, S.:

30 Jahre Deutsche Einheit: Errungenschaften und verbliebene Unterschiede in der Mortalitätsentwicklung nach Alter und Todesursachen

Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz 64:4, 481–490. (2021)    

van Raalte, A. A.; Klüsener, S.; Oksuzyan, A.; Grigoriev, P.:

Declining regional disparities in mortality in the context of persisting large inequalities in economic conditions: the case of Germany

International Journal of Epidemiology 49:2, 486–496. (2020)    

Grigoriev, O.; Doblhammer, G.:

Changing educational gradient in long-term-care-free life expectancy among German men, 1997-2012

PLOS One 14:9, e0222842–e0222842. (2019)    

Grigoriev, P.; Scholz, R. D.; Shkolnikov, V. M.:

Socioeconomic differences in mortality among 27 million economically active Germans: a cross-sectional analysis of the German Pension Fund data

BMJ Open 9:10, e028001–e028001. (2019)    

Wenau, G.; Grigoriev, P.; Shkolnikov, V. M.:

Socioeconomic disparities in life expectancy gains among retired German men, 1997-2016

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 73:7, 605–611. (2019)    

Klüsener, S.; Grigoriev, P.; Scholz, R. D.; Jdanov, D. A.:

Adjusting inter-censal population estimates for Germany 1987-2011: approaches and impact on demographic indicators

Comparative Population Studies 43, 31–64. (2018)    

Grigoriev, P.; Pechholdová, M.:

Health convergence between East and West Germany as reflected in long-term cause-specific mortality trends: to what extent was it due to reunification?

European Journal of Population 33:5, 701–731. (2017)    

Pechholdová, M.; Grigoriev, P.; Meslé, F.; Vallin, J.:

Have life expectancies in eastern and western Germany converged since reunification?

Population and Societies, 1–4. (2017)    

Pechholdová, M.; Grigoriev, P.; Meslé, F.; Vallin, J.:

Espérance de vie : les deux Allemagne ont-elles convergé depuis la réunification?

Population et Sociétés, 1–4. (2017)    

Vogt, T. C.; van Raalte, A. A.; Grigoriev, P.; Myrskylä, M.:

The German East-West mortality difference: two crossovers driven by smoking

Demography 54:3, 1051–1071. (2017)    

Vogt, T. C.; van Raalte, A. A.; Grigoriev, P.; Myrskylä, M.:

German East-West mortality difference: two cross-overs driven by smoking

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2016-004. (2016)