关键词: 预期寿命, 寿命不均等, 流行病学转变, 健康不公平, 公共政策

Abstract:  As life expectancy has risen spectacularly since the mid-nineteenth century，and at pres- ent，is high in many countries，increasing attention has been drawn to life disparity-how much lifespans differ among individuals．Life disparity is important because it measures uncertainty in the timing of death. Reducing this uncertainty increases the value of both private and public investments in education and training，and can factor into life course decisions such as retirement planning and the adoption of healthy behavior．The past six decades have witnessed great improvements in life expectancy in China， particularly since the reform and opening up in the late 1970s．Previous studies have well documented the levels，patterns and regional variations of mortality in China．But so far no study has focused on life disparity．This paper aims to fill in this gap with in-depth analysis of the trends in life disparity of China under comprehensive international comparison．We find that the improvement of life disparity that has been made so far in China can partially be attributed to the China-characteristic healthcare system and health-related public policies．

Keywords:  Life Expectancy, Life Disparity, Epidemiological Transition, Health Inequality, Public Policy