Changes in life expectancy by household type: the case of Denmark between 2019 and 2021

Contrary to other countries, Denmark did not experience mortality declines in 2020, but did in 2021. At the same time, COVID-19 has been shown to unequally affect different population groups. Among other characteristics, living arrangements were hypothesised to influence infection and mortality risk. We use Danish data (from registries and Ministry of Health) to compute life expectancy at ages 30 and 60 by gender and household type. We compare the average yearly change between 2015 and 2019 with changes in life expectancy between 2019 and 2021 together and for each year, using bootstrapping to create 95% confidence intervals. Finally, we decompose changes in life expectancy by age and cause of death. In most subgroups, life expectancy did not decline in 2020, and even improved for nursing home residents, who suffered greatly in other countries. There were declines in 2021, but only men and women in complex households and women in nursing homes experienced overall losses between 2019 and 2021. These changes were partially driven by COVID-19 mortality, but mostly by mortality by other causes. In 2020, Denmark managed to protect its population from the mortality effects of the pandemic, even improving mortality by non-COVID-19 causes. In contrast, in 2021 there was a lagged effect on mortality due to non-COVID-19 causes of death, which considerably increased, and thereby reduced life expectancy across subgroups.