Mortality inequality in populations with equal life expectancy: Arriaga's decomposition method in SAS, Stata, and Excel

PURPOSE: Life expectancy is used to measure population health, but large differences in mortality can be masked even when there is no life expectancy gap. We demonstrate how Arriaga's decomposition method can be used to assess inequality in mortality between populations with near equal life expectancy. METHODS: We calculated life expectancy at birth for Quebec and the rest of Canada from 2005 to 2009 using life tables and partitioned the gap between both populations into age and cause-specific components using Arriaga's method. RESULTS: The life expectancy gap between Quebec and Canada was negligible (