Mortality in the Caucasus: An attempt to re-estimate recent mortality trends in Armenia and Georgia

Abstract

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Caucasian countries experienced remarkable migration flows, political conflicts, and deterioration of civil registration systems. The reassessment of Armenian and Georgian population after censuses carried out in the early 2000s enables to re-estimate recent mortality levels in both countries. Vital statistics since the 1980s are presented and discussed. Infant mortality is corrected according to sample surveys, and mortality above age 60 estimated through model life tables. On the basis of these estimates, trends in life expectancy were similar in the two countries, unfavourable during the 1990s, especially for males for whom the health progress, notably in Georgia, is still low.

Keywords

• administrative data
• Armenia
• estimation
• Georgia
• life expectancy
• mortality
• reliability
• survey data