Trends of Socioeconomic Mortality Differences in Italy: New Insights from Indirect Orphanhood-Based Estimates

Marc Luy, Vienna Institute of Demography
Paola Di Giulio, Vienna Institute of Demography
Graziella Caselli, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

We analyze socioeconomic mortality differences for women and men by using the orphanhood method for the estimation of life expectancy on survey-based information about parental survival. We extend the classic orphanhood method to developed countries and conduct our analysis in Italy since there is no other promising data source for the analysis of recent socioeconomic status (SES)-specific mortality differences. Furthermore, in combination with the specific characteristics of the surveys, this innovative approach helps to overcome several weaknesses of usual studies on SES-specific mortality differentials. Our analysis provides a time series of education- and occupation-specific life tables for women and men that enable both an analysis of more recent socioeconomic mortality differences in Italy and their development over the last decades. Special attention is devoted to the derived extension of the orphanhood method that can be transformed easily to any other survey data, including information on parental survival.