Trends in the Arab-Jewish life expectancy gap in Israel, 1975-2008

In spite of significant gains in life expectancy at birth (e0) that both Arabs and Jews in Israel have experienced throughout the last 40 years, a gap ranging between 3 to 4 years has persisted between the two groups. Using decomposition methods, this paper estimates the contribution of specific age groups and causes of death to the total Arab-Jewish gap during 1970-08. Results show that trends in the total gap reflect two opposing processes. During 1970-80 modest declines in the total gap were driven by converging infant and child mortality rates. Thereafter, growing inequalities in older-age mortality resulted in widening the gap. Cancer mortality which was a major suppressor of the total Arab-Jewish gap for both sexes has recently turned to a small positive contributor. Faster increase in diabetes mortality rates among the Arab minority also positively contributed to enlarging the gap.