Rise and Fall of the Deaths of Despair Burden across European Regions, 2002–2019

Florian Bonnet , INED
Ina Alliger, Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB)
Carlo-Giovanni Camarda, Ined
France Meslé, Institut National d'Etudes Demographiques (INED)
michael muehlichen, Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB),
elsa perdrix, Paris-Dauphine University
Pavel Grigoriev, Federal Institute for Population Research

Concerns about stagnating life expectancy in the United States (US) have recently focused on the burden of “deaths of despair”. While extensively studied in this country, evidence for Europe remains fragmented and mostly national. We present the first systematic regional analysis of despair-related mortality across 20 European countries from 2002–2019, using age-standardized years of life lost (YLL) to capture the burden of premature deaths. We estimate trends by sex, age, and cause, identify statistically significant regional increases or declines, and compare our findings to the US as a benchmark. Our preliminary results suggest that the picture is less alarming for overall Europe than in the US, but worrying sub-patterns are emerging. Acute alcohol mortality has risen sharply in many Northern and Eastern European regions among older adults, while deaths from drugs and toxic substances have increased among younger adults in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, and Spain.

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 Presented in Session 3. Flash Session Mortality Levels and Trends