Poor and rich
Differences in life expectancy are increasing
The high-rise buildings of Gropiusstadt in the south of Berlin. The large housing estate, built between 1962 and 1975, is considered a social hotspot. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
It is well known that poorer people generally die earlier than richer people. In Germany, however, the differences have increased. Why is that?
People from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods tend to die earlier than people from affluent areas – and this inequality in the According to a study in Germany, life expectancy has increased in recent decades.
In general, life expectancy increased slightly on average between 2003 and 2019, reports a team led by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in the journal “The Lancet Public Health”. However, for people from poorer neighborhoods, development stagnated or life expectancy increased more slowly.
While the lifespan of women from the most and least disadvantaged areas differed by 1.1 years in 2003, in 2019 it was already 1.8 years. The gap also widened for men – from a 3-year difference in 2003, it increased to 3.1 years in 2019. “After that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the gap widened even faster to 2.2 years for women and 3.5 years for men in 2021,” the study says.
Covid-19 plays a crucial role after 2019
Why has the gap widened over the past 20 years? The scientists attribute this largely to developments in mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancer, especially lung cancer. As a result, fewer people overall died of these diseases over time, but mortality fell less among people from disadvantaged areas than among people from more affluent areas. After 2019, Covid-19 played a crucial role as mortality was particularly high in socially disadvantaged regions.
For the study, the researchers examined data from all people who died between the beginning of 2003 and the end of 2021 and were resident in Germany. The data is based on information from the Federal Statistical Office. In addition, they used a data set developed at the RKI to record regional socio-economic disadvantage. It provides information about educational qualifications, employment and income.