Old-age Mortality in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Censuses and Surveys Estimates

Soumaïla Ouedraogo, New York University Abu Dhabi
Bruno Masquelier, Louvain University (UCL)
Géraldine Duthé, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Robust estimates of adult and child mortality are now available for sub-Saharan Africa, but few efforts have been devoted to estimating mortality among people aged 50 and above. The objective of this paper is to describe levels and age patterns of older adult mortality in this region of the world. The analysis covers 18 sub-Saharan African countries for which information is available on deaths by sex and age within households in two recent censuses or recent national surveys. We use death distribution methods to adjust mortality rates for incompleteness of death reporting.