Decomposing Life Expectancy in the Philippines: 1960 to 2000

In a span of 40 years, the life expectancy of the Philippines increased by ten years for males and 11.5 years for females. It is unknown however, which ages contribute most to these gains in life expectancy. Using discrete decomposition approach, this paper estimates the relative contributions of each age group in the improvement of life expectancy over the years, separately for males and females. The resulting life expectancy given possible gains in mortality rates in the next few years in the context of the millennium development goals will also be estimated.