The Transition from Higher Female to Higher Male Mortality in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze a reversal in the sex differential in mortality. In 1952-54 females in Sri Lanka had a lower expectation of life at birth than males. By 1970-72 females had a higher life expectation at birth. Male age specific death rates are generally higher than female rates. Sri Lanka has frequently been cited as 1 of the main exceptions to this generalization. During the 1960s however the sex differential in overall mortality in Sri Lanka began to shift away from a pattern of higher female than male mortality. Equality in the overall level for the 2 sexes was observed in the early 1960s. Since then the sex differential has favored females and has continued to widen. In 1970-72 Sri Lanka had higher female than male age specific death rates only in the early childhood years (1-4 and 5-9). This accords with the general observation that as mortality declines female survival rates improve faster than male survival rates. Cases of female age specific death rates being higher than the corresponding male rates become more exceptional and the predominant differences in favor of females grow steadily larger. Although son preference may be accepted as a possible explanation of the mortality sex differentials in Sri Lanka in 1952-54 and earlier years it is difficult to imagine that such attitudes have not changed over time. Since very little change in the sex differentials in mortality has occurred in the infant and early childhood stages one can infer either that male preference is not a factor responsible for higher female mortality in early childhood or that if it is a factor it has not changed much during the period. It is possible that traditional attitudes operate on an unconscious level and are not easily changed. (summaries in FRE SPA)