Conversation

New post! What do mortality declines mean? Fewer parents losing children, fewer children losing siblings, getting older with more friends alive. eg. 80 year olds in 1900 France had only 10% of their cohort still alive. 80 year olds in 2018 had 75%.
Here are some statistics from the post. Women in France who died at the age of 90 in 1900 were in the top 1% of survivors in their cohort. But by 2018, they were only in the top 40%. Now, the top 1% are those who die over the age of 100.
Image
2
20
In 1900, 90% of newborns their cohort survived at least until the age of 2 in France and the age of 5 in Sweden. In 2018, 90% survived at least until their mid-60s.
2
17
In 1900, 99% survived only at least a few months of age. By 2018, 99% survived until almost the age of 40.
1
24
30 year olds in 1900 France had 74% of their birth cohort still alive with them. 30 year olds in 2018 had over 99% still alive with them. 80 year olds in 1900 France had only 10% of their birth cohort still alive with them. 80 year olds in 2018 had 75% still alive with them.
2
52
In the 1960s, in Latin American countries, 21% lost a child under five and 35% lost a sibling under five. In South Asian countries, 22% lost a child under five and 21% lost a sibling under five.
Image
1
20
In Western African countries, in the 1960s, 50% lost a child under five and 34% lost a sibling under five. This means every other woman surveyed had lost a child under five years old; and one in three had lost a sibling under five.
1
14
Many lost both. Between 20–40% of women surveyed had lost a sibling and a child under five in most low- and middle-income countries, in the 1960s.
1
12
Globally, 27% of children died before they were 15 years old in 1950. But that figure became 4.3% in 2020, which is a 6-fold decline in seventy years.
5
145
What does it mean when fewer people die? We struggle to make sense of very large numbers because we don’t know how they relate to us as individuals.
3
17