A Life Course Perspective to the Modern Secular Mortality Decline and Socioeconomic Differences in Morbidity and Mortality in Sweden

Abstract

During the past 200 years, most countries in the world have experienced a great increase in life expectancy. The timing of the onset of this decrease in mortality and corresponding increase in life expectance has vastly differed between different countries, and this is true for the pace of the development as well. Some countries have still not achieved the life expectancy experienced by the most developed countries already 100 years ago or even earlier. Some countries have even experienced a backlash in the form of declining life expectancy in the 1990s due to, for instance, unemployment and alcohol consumption in some eastern European countries, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in some African countries. Nevertheless, the general picture of improvement remains massively impressive, and in Sweden life expectancy has increased continuously for more than 200 years.