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  • Book
  • Open Access
  • © 2018

Visualizing Mortality Dynamics in the Lexis Diagram

  • Provides a graphical analysis of period- and cohort-effects in mortality
  • Offers readers a visual understanding of how mortality changes dynamically
  • Accompanied by instructions on how to use the R Software to produce surface maps

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis (PSDE, volume 44)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction: Why Do We Visualize Data and What Is This Book About?

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 1-4Open Access
  3. The Lexis Diagram

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 5-10Open Access
  4. Data and Software

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 11-16Open Access
  5. Surface Plots of Observed Death Rates

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 17-27Open Access
  6. Surface Plots of Smoothed Mortality Data

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 29-41Open Access
  7. Surface Plots of Rates of Mortality Improvement

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 43-67Open Access
  8. Surface Plots of Rates of Mortality Improvement for Selected Causes of Death in the United States

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 69-80Open Access
  9. Surface Plots of Age-Specific Contributions to the Increase in Life Expectancy

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 81-97Open Access
  10. Seasonality of Causes of Death

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 99-122Open Access
  11. Surface Plots for Cancer Survival

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 123-138Open Access
  12. Summary and Outlook

    • Roland Rau, Christina Bohk-Ewald, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, James W. Vaupel
    Pages 139-143Open Access
  13. Back Matter

    Pages 145-169

About this book

This book visualizes mortality dynamics in the Lexis diagram. While the standard approach of plotting death rates is also covered, the focus in this book is on the depiction of rates of mortality improvement over age and time. This rather novel approach offers a more intuitive understanding of the underlying dynamics, enabling readers to better understand whether period- or cohort-effects were instrumental for the development of mortality in a particular country. Besides maps for single countries, the book includes maps on the dynamics of selected causes of death in the United States, such as cardiovascular diseases or lung cancer. The book also features maps for age-specific contributions to the change in life expectancy, for cancer survival and for seasonality in mortality for selected causes of death in the United States. The book is accompanied by instructions on how to use the freely available R Software to produce these types of surface maps. Readers are encouraged to use the presented tools to visualize other demographic data or any event that can be measured by age and calendar time, allowing them to adapt the methods to their respective research interests. The intended audience is anyone who is interested in visualizing data by age and calendar time; no specialist knowledge is required.

This book is open access under a CC BY license.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

    Roland Rau

  • Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany

    Christina Bohk-Ewald

  • Collegium of Economic Analysis, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland

    Magdalena M. Muszyńska

  • Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense C, Denmark

    James W. Vaupel

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access