Some Numbers on Life and Death in Portugal

This week I looked into statistics on Portuguese mortality, life expectancy, and causes of death. A study was done in 2008 that compiled all this information as a way to compare Portugal to Spain and how these numbers started out very different between the two countries, but how they have more recently become closer. The study, titled "Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century", was very interesting yet full of facts that bogged down my reading. I used it mostly to pull out information about Portugal, which meant that a lot of the article didn't have much to do with what I wanted. It was still interesting to read though, if a bit dry, and it did produce some good information.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

In 2005, the life expectancy for a Portuguese woman was 81.3 years. For a man it was 74.9 years. These numbers experienced a great increase from 1950, when females lived to about 61 and males lived to around 55.8 years old. These showed jumps of 20.3 and 19.1 years, respectively. Yet, just since 2005, life expectancy has yet again risen. Women now enjoy 83 years on average and men can live to 77 years. In 1950, when life expectancy was much lower, the death rates among children less than 1 year old was also high. Out of every 1000 children, 100 deaths would occur, at least among the males of the population. More recently this probability has dropped. Now children 5 years old and younger experience a mortality rate of 4 out of every 1000. The probability of dying between 15 and 60 years old stands at 117 out of 1000 for men and 50 out of 1000 for women.

EXCESS MORTALITY

In the early 1960s, Portugal faced an excess in mortality due to a high death rate among babies, children, and adolescents. Throughout the rest of the twentieth century the country was also found to have excess mortality during the winter months, compared to the rest of Western Europe. This was due to a lack of thermal efficiency in housing and an income inequality. By 2003, the excess amounts of mortality in Portugal were due to endocrine and metabolic diseases, mostly found in those aged 60 to 79.

CAUSES OF DEATH

The study listed the top eight causes of death that make up the biggest proportions of total deaths in Portugal from 1980 to 2003. These include circulatory system diseases, neoplasms, ill-defined conditions, endocrine/metabolic diseases, external causes, infectious diseases, digestive system diseases, and mental disorders. Other leading causes of death in Portugal included cerebrovascular mortality; this type of death was higher in Portugal than all the rest of Western Europe in 2002. In 2005, death caused by HIV in Portugal became higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. Portuguese men are more likely than women to die in accidents, as a result of suicide, or by undetermined causes. This is also true in comparison to Spanish men as well, at least as of 2003.


These facts are still dense, even in this shortened form but they added a new aspect to my project that I had not had before. My focus so far has been on rituals, religious and social, and wills and inheritance. I had not found numbers like this before this week so I feel like they added a new dimension to my project, despite the heaviness of the material. Next I will be talking more about wills and inheritance because I found a few sites that explain the laws a little bit better. There is still a lot of legal jargon to wade through but compared to what I had so far, these will be helpful.



Source

Canudas-Romo, Vladimir, Dana Glei, Rosa Gomez-Redondo, Edviges Coelho, and Carl Boe. "Mortality Changes in the Iberian Peninsula in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century." Population (English Edition, 2002-) 63, no. 2 (Apr.- Jun., 2008): 319-343. http://www,jstor.org/stable/27645349 (accessed November 30, 2013).