Why has the Black-White Life Expectancy Gap Declined?

Sam Harper, McGill University
John Lynch, McGill University

We decomposed the change in the black-white life expectancy gap from 1990 to 2001 by age and cause of death using Arriaga’s method. The gap in life expectancy between black and white females decreased from 5.81 to 4.75 years, mostly due to relative mortality improvement among blacks aged 25-64 (51.0%). Most of the female decline was due to relative mortality improvement among blacks in cardiovascular diseases (23.9%), cancers (12.7%), and homicide (9.4%). The decline in the gap was larger among males, from 8.19 to 6.47 years by 2001. The decline among males was primarily due to mortality improvement among blacks ages 25-54 (71.9%). Chief among the causes for the decline were reductions in black mortality from homicide (22.2%), cancers (15.5%), cardiovascular diseases (8.6%), and HIV (7.9%). Unfavorable changes in other causes of death for blacks kept the gap from narrowing further, primarily nephritis, breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, and septicemia.