Cause-Decomposition of the Change over Time in the Modal Age at Death

Vladimir Canudas-Romo, Johns Hopkins University

This paper discusses the methodology to study the cause-contribution of specific causes of death to the modal age at death, an alternative longevity measure to life expectancy. This decomposition is based on the finding that for the modal age at death to increase, requires that the decline in mortality occurs at ages older than the modal age at death. The method follows two simple steps: (i) to identify modal ages at two given years M(t1) and M(t2), for years t1 and t2 respectively; (ii) For each year t1 and t2 the cause of death distribution after the two modal ages is used to apply the statistical calculations of composition analysis of causes of death. This method allows studying the cause of death change that went along the decline in death rates and which triggered the increase in the modal age at death.