Life Expectancy in the Interwar Period: Fixing Data Gaps for Lithuania and Explaining Early Demographic Transition in Estonia and Latvia

Abstract

Table 10.1 provides a compilation of the available data on life expectancy at birth, based on life tables for the Baltic countries and Finland in 1897–1938, which is included because of its role as a regional benchmark country in the perceptions of the indigenous populations of the Baltic countries. It also provides Gapminder (Lindgren 2020) estimates, which could not be neglected because of my interest (for application of the OOST) in the 1913 life expectancy values. They could only be interpolated or estimated from values in the years for which life tables could be constructed. I rely on my estimates, but those coming from Gapminder are useful as a control instance.