Decomposing mortality changes: towards compression or shifting mortality

Marie-Pier Bergeron Boucher, Max Planck Odense Center
Marcus Ebeling, University of Rostock and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Vladimir Canudas-Romo, Max Planck Odense Center

We study two components of mortality change: the modal age at death and the rate of increase by age. These two components inform us about the timing and age patterns of mortality respectively. The aim of this study is to decompose changes in life expectancy into effects due to changes in the modal age at death and in the rate of increase by age. Our approach allows to differentiate between the two underlying processes in mortality and their relevance to understand the dynamics of mortality.