Stato coniugale e sopravvivenza

For several decades now, in many countries, marital status has been recognized as a key factor in determining the health and survival of individuals for both men and women, although less markedly so for the latter. The data used in various studies in this area are generally of two types: data coming from census and vital statistics registries, covering the entire population (Gove, 1973; Trovato and Lauris, 1989), and data resulting from surveys (Brockmann and Klein, 2004). In Italy, to our knowledge, there are few studies on the subject and only of the second type (Scafato et al., 2008). In this paper we aim to assess mortality in Italy in 2001 using census data and mortality values for the entire Italian population aggregated by gender and age group (8 age classes from 35-39 years to 70 -74 years). In this paper we aim to assess mortality in Italy in 2001 using census data and mortality values for the entire Italian population aggregated by gender, age group and marital status, which is assumed to be a discriminating factor, presumably along with cohabitation. The present work is the first stage of a larger research project aimed at highlighting the evolution of mortality rates by gender, age and marital status in Italy from 1971 onwards.