ArticlePopulation health metrics2026
Sustained increases in life expectancy and changes in lifespan variation in South Korea, 1970-2023: decomposing compression and shifting of mortality.
Article in Population health metrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWe examined trends in life expectancy at birth, modal age at death, and lifespan variation in South Korea from 1970 to 2023, and evaluated hypotheses regarding mortality compression and shifting in relation to increases in life expectancy at birth.
methodsUsing annual sex-specific complete life tables from Statistics Korea, we fitted the Siler model separately by sex and year. We estimated life expectancy at birth and compared the value with the modal age at death. Lifespan variation was evaluated using multiple indicators, including the standard deviation, life disparity, Theil index, and Gini coefficient. We conducted decomposition analyses to quantify the contributions of shifts in the modal age at death and in mortality compression to annual gains in life expectancy at birth.
resultsLife expectancy at birth and the modal age at death increased steadily for both sexes over the study period. However, while the rate of increase in life expectancy at birth slowed after 2000, gains in the modal age at death accelerated over the same period. Lifespan variation indicators declined in both sexes, but their downward trend slowed or stagnated after 2000, particularly among women. Decomposition analyses revealed that, since the 2000s, increases in the modal age at death have been the primary driver of gains in life expectancy at birth.
interpretationOver time, the increase in life expectancy at birth in South Korea has become increasingly consistent with the shifting hypothesis. Efforts should be made to ensure that longevity gains are equitably shared across the population. Monitoring of lifespan variation indicators across subpopulations and identifying their underlying determinants across is essential.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.