Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:21:49.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mortality in Ireland 1901 to 2006

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2013

M. Hall
M. Hall*
Affiliation:
University College Dublin, School of Mathematical Science, Ireland
*
*Correspondence to: Mary Hall, School of Mathematical Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the course of the 20th century Ireland moved from being a largely young population with a high death rate from infectious diseases to an increasingly older population with a consequent rise in chronic diseases. Understanding the changes that occurred in Irish mortality over the 20th century and how these changes compare with those experienced by similar countries can help us plan for the challenges of our aging population. This paper analyses trends in mortality in Ireland over the period 1901 to 2006 by age group, gender and five broad categories of cause of death – infectious diseases, circulatory diseases, respiratory diseases, cancer and external causes. To place the changes in an international context the trends are compared with those experienced by Northern Ireland and England and Wales. Ireland experienced the fastest improvements in mortality of the three regions in the early years of the 21st century. By 2006 the mortality of Irish males ranked between that of Northern Ireland and England and Wales while Irish females experienced the lowest mortality of the three regions. The improvement in Irish mortality in the 21st century can be attributed mainly to the drop in deaths from circulatory diseases for both males and females.

Keywords

MortalityIrelandNorthern IrelandEngland and Wales20th CenturyCause of Death
Type
Sessional meetings: papers and abstracts of discussions
Information
British Actuarial Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 436 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, O.B., Boschi-Pinto, C., Lopez, A.D., Murray, C. JL., Lozano, R., Inoue, M. (2001). Age Standardization of Rates: A New WHO Standard. GPE Discussion Paper Series: No.31. EIP/GPE/EBD World Health Organization.Google Scholar
AIHW (2005). Mortality over the twentieth century in Australia. Trends and patterns in major causes of death. Mortality Surveillance Series no. 4. AIHW cat. No. PHE73. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
Balanda, K.P., Wilde, J. (2001). 1989–1998 Inequalities in Mortality. A report on all-Ireland mortality data. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland. Available at www.publichealth.ie.Google Scholar
Bryder, L. (1988). Below the Magic Mountain. A Social History of Tuberculosis in Twentieth-Century Britain. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
CMI (2004). Continuous Mortality Investigation Report No. 21. Institute of Actuaries and Faculty of Actuaries, U.K.Google Scholar
CSO (2009). Central Statistics Office Ireland. Irish Life Tables No. 15. 2005–2007. www.cso.ie.Google Scholar
CSO (2011). Report on Vital Statistics – various years. Central Statistics Office Ireland. Published by the Stationery Office Dublin, Ireland. www.cso.ie.Google Scholar
Donnelly, D.W., Gavin, A.T., Comber, H. (2009) Cancer in Ireland : A summary report. A report of cancer incidence, mortality, treatment and survival in the North and South of Ireland: 1994–2004. Northern Ireland Cancer Registry/National Cancer Registry, Ireland.Google Scholar
Donnelly, D.W., Gavin, A.T. (2010). Trends and Patterns in Cancer Mortality in Northern Ireland. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, XXXIX, 186–210.Google Scholar
Dormandy, T. (1999). The White Death. A History of Tuberculosis. The Hambledon Press, London and Rio Grande.Google Scholar
Forfar, D.O., Smith, D.M. (1987). The changing shape of English Life Tables. Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries [TFA], (1985–1987) 40, 98–134.Google Scholar
Goss, S.C., Wade, A., Bell, F., Dussault, B. (1998). Historical and Projected Mortality for Mexico, Canada and the United States. North American Actuarial Journal, 4(2), 108–126.Google Scholar
Griffiths, C., Brock, A. (2003). Twentieth Century Mortality Trends in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly, 18, 5–17.Google Scholar
HMD (2011). Human Mortality Database. University of California, Berkeley (USA), and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany). Available at www.mortality.orgorwww.humanmortality.de (data downloaded 2011).Google Scholar
Jones, G. (2001). “Captain of all these men of death”. The History of Tuberculosis in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Ireland. The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine. Amsterdam – New York.Google Scholar
Layte, R., O'Hara, S., Bennett, K. (2010). Explaining structural change in cardiovascular mortality in Ireland 1995–2005: a time series analysis. The European Journal of Public Health. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckq100.Google ScholarPubMed
McKeon, T., Record, R.G., Turner, R.D. (1975). An Interpretation of the Decline of Mortality in England and Wales during the Twentieth Century. Population Studies, 29(3), pp. 391–422.Google Scholar
NHS (2006). Statistics on Smoking: England 2006. The Information Centre, Lifestyles Statistics. National Health Service.Google Scholar
NISRA (2011). Register General Annual Reports, Northern Ireland. No.s 30–31,39–41,49–51,59–61,69–71,78–79. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Available at www.nisra.gov.uk.Google Scholar
ONS (2011). Office for National Statistics. Twentieth Century Mortality Files. Available at: www.statsitics.gov.uk.Google Scholar
O’ Grada, C. (2002). “The Greatest Blessing of All”: The Old Age Pension in Ireland. The Past and Present Society, Oxford, 2002. .Google Scholar
O'Reilly, D. (2006). Mortality Statistics in Northern Ireland: Past Uses and Future Possibilities. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, XXXV, 219–234.Google Scholar
Siegel, J.S., Swanson, D.A. (2004). The Methods and Materials of Demography. 2nd Edition. Elsevier Academic Press. Chapter 12 Mortality. 265–300.Google Scholar
Walsh, B. (2008). Wealthier and Healthier: Ireland's Demographic Catch-Up. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, XXXVII, 95–111.Google Scholar
Ward, M., McGee, H., Morgan, K., Van Lente, E., Layte, R., Barry, M., Watson, D., Shelley, E., Perry, I. (2009). One Island – One Lifestyle? Health and lifestyles in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Department of Health and Children, Dublin, Ireland.Google Scholar
Whelan, S. (2009a). Mortality in Ireland at Advanced Ages, 1950–2006: Part 1: Crude Rates. Annals of Actuarial Science, 4, 33–66.Google Scholar
Whelan, S. (2009b). Mortality in Ireland at Advanced Ages, 1950–2006: Part 2: Crude Rates. Annals of Actuarial Science, 4, 67–104.Google Scholar
WHO (2008). World Health Organisation. MPower: A policy package to reverse the tobacco epidemic.Google Scholar
WHO (2011). World Health Organisation. International Statistical Classification of Diseases. Various Revisions. Geneva.Google Scholar