Academic Journal
Sustained increases in life expectancy and changes in lifespan variation in South Korea, 1970-2023: decomposing compression and shifting of mortality.
| Τίτλος: | Sustained increases in life expectancy and changes in lifespan variation in South Korea, 1970-2023: decomposing compression and shifting of mortality. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Kim I; Department of Preventive Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea. ikhan.kim@kosin.ac.kr., Jeon J; Department of Preventive Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea., Kim C; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea., Bae H; Department of Preventive Medicine, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea., Son MS; Department of Nursing, Tongmyong University, Busan, South Korea. |
| Πηγή: | Population health metrics [Popul Health Metr] 2026 May 13; Vol. 24 (1). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 May 13. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101178411 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1478-7954 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14787954 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Popul Health Metr Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2003]- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Life Expectancy*/trends , Mortality*/trends , Longevity*, Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Life Tables ; Aged ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Aged, 80 and over |
| Περίληψη: | Background: We examined trends in life expectancy at birth, modal age at death, and lifespan variation in South Korea from 1970 to 2023, and evaluated hypotheses regarding mortality compression and shifting in relation to increases in life expectancy at birth. Methods: Using annual sex-specific complete life tables from Statistics Korea, we fitted the Siler model separately by sex and year. We estimated life expectancy at birth and compared the value with the modal age at death. Lifespan variation was evaluated using multiple indicators, including the standard deviation, life disparity, Theil index, and Gini coefficient. We conducted decomposition analyses to quantify the contributions of shifts in the modal age at death and in mortality compression to annual gains in life expectancy at birth. Results: Life expectancy at birth and the modal age at death increased steadily for both sexes over the study period. However, while the rate of increase in life expectancy at birth slowed after 2000, gains in the modal age at death accelerated over the same period. Lifespan variation indicators declined in both sexes, but their downward trend slowed or stagnated after 2000, particularly among women. Decomposition analyses revealed that, since the 2000s, increases in the modal age at death have been the primary driver of gains in life expectancy at birth. Interpretation: Over time, the increase in life expectancy at birth in South Korea has become increasingly consistent with the shifting hypothesis. Efforts should be made to ensure that longevity gains are equitably shared across the population. Monitoring of lifespan variation indicators across subpopulations and identifying their underlying determinants across is essential. (© 2026. The Author(s).) |
| Competing Interests: | Declarations. Ethics approval: This study was approved by the institutional review board of Kosin University Gospel Hospital (KUGH 2023–07-031). Informed consent was waived for this study because secondary data were used. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewer for providing constructive comments that helped improve this study. |
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| Grant Information: | RS-2023-00212260 National Research Foundation of Korea |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Life expectancy; Life tables; Longevity; Republic of Korea |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260514 Date Completed: 20260716 Latest Revision: 20260716 |
| Update Code: | 20260717 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13185253 |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12963-026-00483-4 |
| PMID: | 42129857 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1478-7954 |
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| DOI: | 10.1186/s12963-026-00483-4 |