Educational and Gender Differences in the Disability-Free Life Expectancy for the Elderly: Brazil, 1998 and 2003

Gilvan R. Guedes, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional(CEDEPLAR) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Mirela C.S. Camargos, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional(CEDEPLAR) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Carla J. Machado, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional(CEDEPLAR) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

This study estimated the educational inequalities of the disability life expectancy by age and sex for the Brazilian elderly and introduced a time comparison, generating a decomposition analysis. We used data from the National Household Survey and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, for 1998 and 2003. To estimate the expected number of years and the proportion of these years lived in absence and presence of disability, we applied the Sullivan method. The results revealed that life expectancy increased for both sexes, more for men and concentrated in the oldest old. Women tended to live longer with and without disability, but a small percentage disability-free than men. The reduction in percentage of DLEx was bigger for the lower educated in the period. The decomposition revealed that the prevalence effect was responsible for the total reduction in proportions of DLEx and the mortality effect acting in the opposite direction.