Persistent Educational Inequalities in Mortality among Older Adults in Mexico: Evidence from Multiple Data Sources

Ana Cristina Gomez Ugarte Valerio , Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Ugofilippo Basellini, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Carlo-Giovanni Camarda, Ined
Emilio Zagheni, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Fanny Janssen, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute - KNAW/University of Groningen

Although significant socioeconomic inequalities in mortality are observed globally, little is known about educational inequalities in mortality in the world's most unequal regions, such as Latin America. In these regions, there is usually no single data source that can comprehensively measure inequalities in mortality. Vital statistics often suffer from quality issues, while other data sources, such as the Demographic and Health Surveys or older adults' surveys, have limited samples. Mexico presents a unique case, in which for certain groups (older adults) and time periods (2002-2007 and 2013-2018), educational inequalities in mortality can be estimated from two distinct data sources. This dual-source availability allows for cross-validation and strengthens the robustness of findings. We provide the first systematic comparison of two primary data sources for estimating education-specific mortality in Mexico: the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and a combination of death certificates and census data. To limit data quality issues, we focus on two education categories and use 85 years and older as the open-ended age group. Despite differences and limitations across data sources, our analysis reveals persistent educational inequalities in mortality among the population aged 60 years and older since 2001. Additionally, we found greater inequalities among females than males. Next steps will consist of leveraging the advantages of each data source by combining them to derive a single estimate of education-specific mortality rates for the Mexican population, potentially extending it to younger age groups.

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 Presented in Session 38. Flash Session Social Inequalities in Mortality