AGE PATTERNS OF MORTALITY AND CAUSE-OF-DEATH STRUCTURES IN SWEDEN, JAPAN, AND THE UNITED-STATES

This paper uses a new standard model of adult mortality to compare the mortality patterns of Swedes, Japanese, and U.S. whites between 1950 and 1985. It examines changes in the age patterns of mortality and the cause-of-death structures within the populations, and the relationshi ps between those two factors. As Japan has reached a level of mortalit y similar to that in Sweden, the age patterns of mortality in the two populations have become more similar despite distinct differences in c auses of death. The United States has a cause-of-death structure simil ar to that of Sweden, but the age pattern of mortality is very differe nt. High mortality in the middle age range in the United States result s in approximately a one-year loss of life expectancy at age 45 in com parison with Sweden.