Measuring male and female change of life expectancies in Italy

This paper presents some procedures for the analysis of historical and mortality differential changes by using life expectancies. Among the indices considered to estimate the pace of mortality of Italian male and female population in the last century, the index of relative change suggested by Arriaga is the most suitable. In the second part of the paper two methods are outlined to determine the contribution of mortality changes in the various age-groups to total change in life expectancy. One of theme is founded on decomposition in three components. The two components solution appears the most effective to determine exclusive age contribution