Life Expectancy as

a factor that affects

disparities.
By: Daniel Straffon, Diego Trejo,
Alexa Mendvil and Laura Mendoza
What is a disparity and how is life
expectancy involved?
Disparities within a country are a significant contrast
within a factor that are used to measure the development
of the country. This can be seen due to terretial differences
or gender differences.
Life expectancy is a very usefull social statistic to measure
development because it contains a wide range of
variables, inculding health, sanitation, food availability,
water supply, etc
Therefore, when analysing the countrys development,
life expectancy performs a big role.
Why is life expectancy important?

Life expectancy is the number of years a person is

expected to live. It is widely used to explore the general
health of a population.

Life expectancy is also usefull for comparing various

groups of people between or within a nation.

However, life expectancy measures the lenght rather than

the quality of life. Therefore it does not necessarily
represent the number of years spent in good health.
 EVIDENCE!

In the past, mortality rates for females in child-bearing age

groups were higher than for males at the same age. Now,
female human life expectancy is considerably higher than that
of men. Traditional arguments tend to favor socio-
environmental factors: historically, men have generally
consumed more tobacco, alcohol and drugs than females in
most societies, and are more likely to die from many associated
diseases such as lung cancer, tuberculosis and cirrhosis of the
liver. Men are also more likely to die from injuries, whether
unintentional (such as occupational or war or car accidents) or
intentional (suicide). Men are also more likely to die from most
of the leading causes of death than women.
 MORE EVIDENCE!

In 89 of the 170 years from 1840 to 2009, the country with

the highest male life expectancy also had the lowest male
life disparity. This was true in 86 years for female life
expectancy and disparity. In all years, the top several life
expectancy leaders were also the top life disparity leaders.
Although only 38% of deaths were premature, fully 84% of
the increase in life expectancy resulted from averting
premature deaths. The reduction in life disparity resulted
from reductions in early-life disparity, that is, disparity
caused by premature deaths; late-life disparity levels
remained roughly constant.
 Millenium Development Goal

Although there is no goal directly mentioning life

expectancy, the are four that affect it:
End Poverty and Hunger
Universal Education
Child Health
Combat HIV/AIDS