Differential mortality patterns from hydro-meteorological disasters: Evidence from cause-of-death data by age and sex

Abstract

This paper evaluates the heterogeneous impact of hydro-meteorological disasters on populations along the dimensions of age, sex, and human development. The analysis is based on previously untapped cause-of-death data over the period 1995-2011 that were obtained from the WHO mortality database, and were based on the civil registration records of 63 countries/territories. Using these data, we evaluate patterns of mortality related to meteorological disasters in the spirit of model life tables. We observe that mortality rates from hydro-meteorological disasters for men are consistently higher than for women across all age groups, and that the differential by sex is larger for adults than for young children or the elderly. Furthermore, the sex differential in mortality becomes smaller with improvements in human development. Comparing our disaster fatalities with those recorded in the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), we find that the number of deaths from hydro-meteorological disasters was underestimated in the WHO database, especially in the case of highimpact events. In the paper we discuss issues of data quality and data harmonisation for the study of the differential demographic impact of natural disasters. One of our main goals is to stimulate an interdisciplinary debate in this area.

Demographic perspectives in research on global environmental change

“…For instance, mortality rates from tsunami are generally higher in women than men due to the lack of ability to swim -physiological aspect underlying vulnerability - (Neumayer and Plümper 2007) and the caregiving role prompting women to stay behind helping children and the elderly -psychosocial factor underlying vulnerability (Frankenberg et al 2011;Yeh 2010). On the other hand, men are more likely to perish from floods and storms due to higher engagement in outdoor activities and higher risk-taking attitudes -exposure and psychosocial factor underlying vulnerability Doocy, Dick, et al 2013;Zagheni et al 2016).…”

“…Differences in physiological susceptibility, hazard exposure and socioeconomic and psychosocial factors influence risk perceptions and capacity to respond and this underlies demographically differentiated vulnerability (Muttarak et al 2016). For instance, whilst mortality rates from tsunami are generally higher in women than men due to the lack of ability to swim (Neumayer and Plümper 2007) and the caregiving role prompting women to stay behind helping children and the elderly (Frankenberg et al 2011;Yeh 2010), men are more likely to perish from floods and storms due to higher engagement in outdoor activities and higher risk-taking attitudes Doocy, Dick, et al 2013;Zagheni et al 2016). Since vulnerability to environmental change depends not only to the type of climatic hazards but also importantly on demographic characteristics, population composition hence is relevant to society's vulnerability and adaptive capacity (Lutz and Muttarak 2017).…”