How mortality patterns have changed in Portugal

Abstract

Changes in social structures, advances in medicine and technology highly contributed to life expectancy increase across the entire world. Thus, longevity’s increase occurs as a result of significant improvements in health and consequent reductions in mortality rates. Past high levels of mortality are now experienced later in life, suggesting that senescence is being delayed and not stretched and individuals are reaching older ages in better physiological condition (Vaupel, 2010). Following the Human Mortality Database (HMD - http://www.mortality.org), life expectancy at birth in Portugal was, in 2015, 81.12 years (78.02 for males and 84.02 for females).