ABSTRACT
This chapter describes mortality trends in the Scandinavian countries since the 1960s. Measures of mortality, such as the infant mortality rate and life expectancy, are among the most commonly used welfare indicators in international comparisons and descriptions of trends. Life expectancy is a good measure of mortality from the viewpoint of a population’s well-being because it gives more weight to premature deaths among the young than among the elderly. Life expectancy can be used as an indicator of well-being if its level is determined primarily by the quality of general living conditions and by the degree of social equality. Sweden and Norway have been almost identical with respect to both the levels and the trends in life expectancy; the only difference is that male life expectancy is slightly higher in Sweden. The existence of personal identification numbers in statistical records makes possible the computerized linkage of death and census records.
