Gauging Inequalities in Age of Death: Calculating the Gini Index Based on Death Rate Tables

Abstract

The Gini index has been used to gauge the concentration of different variables, including income, the mortality distribution and the spread of physicians. The use of the Gini index for gauging the inequalities in the age of death based on actuarial mortality data. For this purpose, the 1990 age and gender-related mortality figures for each Autonomous Community were used. The inequalities in the number of years lived are greater among males than among females throughout all of the Autonomous Communities. The Communities showing the longest life expectancies are those which have also been revealed to involve the least degree of inequality in the number of years lived, which therefore makes in possible to pinpoint health-care priorities in some cases. The Gini index can be applied to age-related mortalitys for gauging the degree of inequality in the age of death and to pinpoint age groups on which to place priority with regard to health-care measures.