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Old age mortality in South Africa

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74).

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Machemedze, Takwanisa
Other Authors: Dorrington, Rob
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE) 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Machemedze, Takwanisa
author2 Dorrington, Rob
author_browse Dorrington, Rob
Machemedze, Takwanisa
author_facet Dorrington, Rob
Machemedze, Takwanisa
author_sort Machemedze, Takwanisa
collection Thesis
description Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74).
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8980
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:12.104Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE)
publisherStr Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE)
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8980 Old age mortality in South Africa Machemedze, Takwanisa Dorrington, Rob Demography Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-74). This study estimates the mortality of the South African oldest old age population (in five year age groups from age 75 up to the open age interval 100 and above) and in the process re-estimates the numbers of people in the population at these ages at the time of the 1996 and 2001 censuses, and the 2007 Community Survey. In countries where the data on the old age population have been verified, it has been observed that the data are marred by errors in the form of age exaggeration, age digit preference, relative under/over count of the population and under-registration of deaths. These errors have been observed to have the net effect of underestimating mortality of the oldest old age groups. The current research applies the method of extinct generations to estimate indirectly the population numbers at the oldest old age groups (75 up to 100 and above) using data on reported deaths alone. Age heaping and year of birth preference in the reported deaths are assessed using ratios of the probability of death estimated from the data. Age exaggeration in the data on reported deaths is assessed using ratios of deaths compared with same ratios from a standard population. Age heaping and year of birth preference in the census/survey population is assessed using the modified Whipple's Index of age accuracy. The Generalized Growth Balance (GGB) and Synthetic Extinct Generations (SEG+delta) methods are applied to adjust for under reporting of deaths and to assess patterns of age exaggeration in the census/survey population. The difference between the estimates of the completeness of reporting of deaths from the two methods is small (less than 1 per cent) and has been observed to have little impact on the mortality estimates. Final estimates of the completeness of reporting of deaths used are those derived using the SEG+delta method. After re-estimating the population numbers and adjusting for completeness of reporting of deaths, mortality rates were then estimated. Results obtained from the method of extinct generations suggest that there is no systematic difference between the census/ survey population and the population numbers estimated from deaths except at ages 95 and above. Measures of age accuracy show that there are patterns of preferring 1910, 1914, 1918, 1920 and 1930 as the years of birth in the census/survey population and these patterns are also found in the registered deaths. The impact of these errors was investigated and the results show that preference of certain years of birth cause fluctuations in the mortality rates. Patterns observed after applying the SEG+delta method suggest that the completeness of reporting of deaths falls with age at the advanced ages (from age 90 and above) and as a result, the estimated mortality rates above this age are lower than those estimated from the United Nations Population Division (UNPD) and US Census Bureau (USCB) population projections, and Dorrington, Moultrie and Timaeus (2004). Conclusions reached are that the mortality rates for the age groups 75 to 89 derived after re-estimating the population numbers and after allowing for the fall in the completeness of reporting of deaths are lower but not significantly different from those inferred from the UNPD and USCB population projections, and estimates derived by Dorrington, Moultrie and Timaeus (2004). The research recommends mortality estimates from the UNPD since they are the closest to the estimates derived using the published census population numbers for the whole period between the nights of 9-10 October 1996 and 9-10 October 2001. However, the research produced better estimates of the oldest old age population numbers relative to the census/survey numbers. 2014-10-30T13:54:42Z 2014-10-30T13:54:42Z 2009 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8980 eng application/pdf Centre for Actuarial Research (CARE) Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Demography
Machemedze, Takwanisa
Old age mortality in South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Old age mortality in South Africa
title_full Old age mortality in South Africa
title_fullStr Old age mortality in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Old age mortality in South Africa
title_short Old age mortality in South Africa
title_sort old age mortality in south africa
topic Demography
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8980
work_keys_str_mv AT machemedzetakwanisa oldagemortalityinsouthafrica