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Potential demography: A second look

La démographie potentielle: un second examen

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European Journal of Population / Revue européenne de Démographie Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the late forties Hersch (1944) and Mentha (1948) introduced, respectively, the concepts of “potential years of life” (PYL) and “potential years of life lost” (PYLL). During the seventies the PYLL idea was rediscovered and applied to a variety of public health issues, with some rather drastic simplifying assumptions. It is argued that PYL, PYLL, and their variants and derived measures are still useful tools in demographic practice.

Résumé

Dans les années quarante Hersch (1944) et Mentha (1948) introduisirent, respectivement, les concepts de “potentiel de vie” et “d'années potentielles de vie perdues”. Durant les années soixante-dix l'idée d'années potentielles de vie perdues fut redécouverte et appliquée à une grande variété de problèmes liés à la santé publique, avec un certain nombre d'hypothèses simplificatrices assez fortes. On montre ici que ces deux concepts, leurs variantes et les mesures qui en sont dérivées sont toujours des outils utiles dans la pratique de la démographie.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    N. Panush & E. Peritz

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  1. N. Panush
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  2. E. Peritz
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Ms. Noemi Panush, 5 b Truman Street, Kefar Saba, Israel

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Panush, N., Peritz, E. Potential demography: A second look. Eur J Population 12, 27–39 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797164

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797164

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