The effects of war losses on mortality estimates for Italy: A first attempt

For countries that experience substantial war losses in a given time period, the exclusion of military deaths can have an important impact on estimates of mortality and life expectancy. In this paper, we start by reviewing Vallin's work in accounting for French war losses. We then attempt to...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Silvia Bruzzone, Dana A. Glei, Graziella Caselli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research 2005-11-01
Series:Demographic Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol13/15/
Description
Summary:For countries that experience substantial war losses in a given time period, the exclusion of military deaths can have an important impact on estimates of mortality and life expectancy. In this paper, we start by reviewing Vallin's work in accounting for French war losses. We then attempt to apply comparable methods to Italy in order to account for the effects of war. The results indicate that estimates currently available from the Human Mortality Database (HMD) greatly underestimate period mortality during wartime among all Italian males, and may even underestimate mortality among civilian males. Finally, we discuss how failing to account for war mortality presents problems in making inter-country mortality comparisons.
ISSN:1435-9871