[Changes in the median life expectancy in free Saxony with reference to age-specific parameters]

When analysing an intensified mortality table of the population in Saxony (which is situated in central Germany) it became evident that by 1994 in contrast to 1988 there has been an overall positive development in respect of median life expectancy, but it also transpired that this development presented a highly differentiated pattern with regard to age-specific parameters among both the female and male populations. As far as the female population was concerned, social progress resulted in a systematic improvement of survival possibilities in childhood and at an advanced age. In the male population there were two age brackets (around the 18th year of life and between 32 and 50 years of age) where the survival probabilities had still not re-attained the 1988 level. In the pensioners' age bracket (starting around the 63rd year of age) the overall mortality rate did not attain a lower level compared to 1988. We are at present preparing an analysis of this life expectancy pattern with special reference to the causes of death.