November 06, 2012 | News | New Publication

Regional Mortality Differences in Germany

The MPIDR has published a new Demographic Research Monograph. In this book, demographer Eva Kibele examines and illustrates patterns of regional mortality in Germany and their changes over time.

Regional mortality differences are one dimension of health inequalities, but its trends and determinants in Germany are widely unknown. This book, published by former MPIDR researcher Eva Kibele, examines and illustrates patterns of regional mortality in Germany—with focus on small-area differentials—and their changes over time. It identifies explanatory factors at individual and regional level. Mortality differences between eastern and western Germany exist, but small-area mortality differentials are often greater. Though the main spatial mortality patterns remain, this study provides evidence that some distinct changes in the small-area mortality patterns in Germany—especially among women—occurred within a short period of time. Mortality inequalities at younger ages and in behavior-related causes as well as differences in socioeconomic conditions contribute strongly to regional mortality differences in Germany. The book shows that the complex interplay between individual- and regional-level mortality risk factors requires a multidimensional approach to reduce regional mortality inequalities.

Eva Kibele was a PhD student at the MPIDR from 2005 to 2010. Her dissertation “Regional mortality differences in Germany. Spatial patterns, temporal trends, contextual- and individual-level determinants” was supervised by Vladimir M. Shkolnikov, head of the Laboratory of Demographic Data. Since 2011 she is working at the Population Research Centre of the University of Groningen, Netherlands. In February 2012 she was awarded the Young Investigator Award of the German Society for Demography.