Levels, profiles, and causes of mortality in the spanish provinces

Abstract

The first part of this article deals with the evolution of mortality in Spain between 1960 and 1981. At the beginnig of this period Spain already belonged to the group of countries with a low mortality. The increase in expectation of life during the two studied decades is characterized by a redistribution of life gains from young ages to older ages and also by a worsening of the differences of mortality between men and women. Apart from this, two noteworthy features of the evolution of mortality causes are a persistent regression of infectious deseases and persistent regression of circulatory system deseases (from 1970 on).

The evolution of mortality was different depending on the sex. The causes which contributed the most to male overmortality were related two some behaviours like nicotinism, alcohol consumption and exposure to certain risks. The second part of the article focuses on the geographical variations of male mortality. Interprovintial differences in mortality level increased between 1960 and 1981. After this period, the chart of expectations of life shows a marked contrast between central provinces -those which have the smallest mortality- and provinces located in the periphery. Geographical location of the main mortality causes enables us to think of space mortality models depending of behaviour differences but depending also of structural differences.