Hansen, Eva F. (2021) A spatial analysis of the recent stagnation in life expectancy in the Netherlands. Master thesis.
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Abstract
Recently, the increasing trend in life expectancy at birth is stagnating in various Western countries, also in the Netherlands from 2012 onwards. The reasons behind this stagnation have not been studied much, only at the national level. The objective of this research is therefore to analyse the recent stagnating trend in life expectancy at birth for the different municipalities in the Netherlands and to examine to what extent lifestyle factors and socioeconomic status contribute to regional differences in this stagnation. Data for 390 municipalities on life expectancy at birth for males and females for the years 2002 until 2016 is retrieved from the RIVM; prevalence data on smoking, drinking, overweight, and obesity from the Health Monitors of 2012 and 2016, and data on household income from the RIVM for the years 2012 and 2016. This data is used to perform spatial analyses (mapping and spatial autocorrelation) and to calculate and assess correlations. Five main findings resulted from this research. First, life expectancy is stagnating in more municipalities for females than for males. Second, male life expectancy is increasingly converging towards female life expectancy. Third, municipalities without stagnation in life expectancy started in 2012 with a lower life expectancy than stagnated municipalities. The absolute change between 2012-2016, however, did increase in non- stagnated municipalities but decreased in stagnated-municipalities. Fourth, there is no clustering of the stagnation in life expectancy at the municipality-level for both males and females. And fifth, there is not a significant (linear) correlation between the absolute change in life expectancy and the prevalence in 2012 or the absolute change in lifestyle factors and socioeconomic status at the municipality level in the Netherlands. To conclude, the recently stagnated increase in life expectancy differs per municipalities and per gender. Policymakers should take these differences into account when formulating future policies related to healthy ageing.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Population Studies |
| Supervisor: | Janssen, F. |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Mar 2021 11:45 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Mar 2021 11:45 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3457 |
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