Health expectancy indicators

An outline is presented of progress in the development of health expectancy indicators, which are growing in importance as a means of assessing the health status of populations and determining public health priorities. Voir page 184 le résume ́ en français. En la página 185 figura un resumen en español. Data on life expectancy, infant mortality and the causes of death used to be seen as a sufficient basis for assessing population health status and determin-ing public health priorities. As mortality rates decline and life expectancy increases, however, more and more questions arise about the quality of the years lived. The former indicators remain indispensable as there are still major inequalities in mortality between countries and between groups within countries. These indicators have yet to be acquired in some countries. Nevertheless, changes during the last 20 years have demonstrated the need for indicator