What does not kill you, makes you stronger: the impact of mortality selection on East-West German mortality convergence

A fundamental question in human aging research is what makes us survive to and at older ages. The separation and reunification of Germany provides us with a unique opportunity to assess external determinants of human survival to oldest ages on a population scale. In this context, we seek to estimate the impact of mortality selection among older East Germans before reunification as a reason for the quick catch up of life expectancy to the West after reunification. We use a gamma gompertz model to account for mortality convergence due to frailty variations caused by changing external conditions. We assume that the unfavourable conditions before reunification lead to a survival of more robust individuals than in the West and to quicker convergence of mortality among these age groups.