Case and Deaton (2015) document that, since 1998, midlife mortality rates are increasing for white non-Hispanics in the … despair, and by the subgroup of low-educated individuals. In contrast, average mortality for middle-aged men and women … continued to decrease in several other high-income countries including Germany. However, average mortality rates can disguise …

age-specific mortality rates and differences in "survivability". Declining age-specific mortality rates increases life … recent widening of mortality rates between rich and poor due to lifestyle-related diseases does not explain much of the rise … poor, made initial differences in lifestyle-related mortality more consequential via survivability. …

We analyze the effect of being born in a recession on the mortality rate later in life in conjunction with social class … inequality measures. The results indicate that being born in a recession increases the mortality rate later in life for most of … the population. Lower social classes suffer disproportionally from being born in recessions. This exacerbates mortality …