Wiemer Salverda
Table 3 Life expectancy* (years) at different ages by educational attainment**, 1995/99
|
Men |
High |
High |
Women | |||||||
|
Low |
Lower |
High- |
Low |
Lower |
High- |
High |
High | |||
|
Total life expectancy, at: 0 years |
73.1 |
76.0 |
76.0 |
78.0 |
4.9 |
79.5 |
82.0 |
82.1 |
82.1 |
2.6 |
|
20 years |
73.6 |
76.5 |
76.5 |
78.5 |
4.9 |
79.9 |
82.4 |
82.5 |
82.5 |
2.6 |
|
50 years |
74.3 |
77.1 |
77.0 |
78.9 |
4.6 |
80.3 |
82.7 |
82.9 |
82.8 |
2.5 |
|
65 years |
76.1 |
78.4 |
78.3 |
79.8 |
3.7 |
81.4 |
83.5 |
83.6 |
83.5 |
2.1 |
|
Healthy life expectancy, at: 0 years |
52.9 |
60.6 |
63.2 |
68.7 |
15.8 |
54.2 |
63.2 |
64.5 |
68.2 |
14.0 |
|
20 years |
55.5 |
62.7 |
65.1 |
70.5 |
15.0 |
56.4 |
65.1 |
66.5 |
70.0 |
13.6 |
|
50 years |
63.6 |
67.4 |
68.7 |
73.0 |
9.4 |
65.4 |
70.9 |
71.3 |
74.0 |
8.6 |
|
65 years |
71.3 |
72.9 |
73.4 |
76.3 |
5.0 |
72.4 |
75.7 |
76.2 |
77.4 |
5.0 |
*) Calculated from CBS Cause of death statistics, GLOBE, LASA, MORGEN, ERGO, POLS, health and work
**) Educational attainment: low: no education or only primary education; lower secondary: LBO (vocational
education) and MAVO (general education), higher secondary: HAVO (general education), VWO (pre-
university education) and MBO (vocational education), high: HBO (professional education) and WO
(university education).
Source: Van Herten et al. (2002), Tables 1 and 3-6; I wish to thank the authors for making available the data on 50-year-olds.
A second aspect of inequality that tends to be overlooked in Dutch ageing policies is diverging life
expectancies for different socio-economic groups, which again is a key feature of the British pension
debate (Turner, 2005, 47)8. Unfortunately, few data are available on this, but the data we do have
reveal marked disparities. TNO research (Van Herten et al., 2002) has operationalised socio-
economic status on the basis of on educational attainment. In theory, the use of occupational status
and income is preferable but educational attainment is easier to identify; it is also more stable for an
individual and hence easier to track over time than occupation or income.
Table 3 outlines the differences for the Netherlands. At birth the life expectancy of men with little
education is five years less than for highly educated men. The situation is similar for women,
although the differences are somewhat smaller - possibly in part because women in the low-
educated category form a larger group more similar to better educated women relative to men. The
differences change little with age, but most of all for those with little education after the age of 50.
8 Very recently this was discovered by Bovenberg (et al., 2006) of Tilburg University, who is central to the Dutch early-retirement and pension debate.
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