National Differences in the Health Transition in Europe

The dual task of describing the characteristic trends of mortality in Europe and of putting forward explanatory hypotheses is the main goal of this article....I attempt to analyze the health transition from 1910....The different steps in mortality trends both in quantitative terms and with regard to structural changes by age and cause are also analyzed and compared when possible to the far-reaching changes that marked the history of mortality in Europe. An attempt at synthesis is performed using the data on life expectancy at birth in 1910 until recent times. Particular focus will be placed on the more significant stages of the decline in mortality by age and cause of death using life tables constructed for the years prior to World War I (1910); those for the early 1930s...; for 1950...; data for the 1960s and 1970s...; and finally the latest available data to gain insight into the decline now in process. (EXCERPT)