The role of European Union enlargement in mortality convergence across Europe

A large and persistent life expectancy gap exists between established European Union (EU) member states and the 2004 accession countries. This is surprising as there were good reasons to expect this gap to close due to closer economic cooperation, increased diffusion of technologies and best practices, and increased investment in regional development. This dissertation investigated the role of the 2004 EU enlargement in shaping geographic mortality differences (mortality divergence-convergence) in the post-2004 EU. Overall, no evidence was found for a decisive role of EU enlargement in mortality convergence in the context of the 2004 EU enlargement. Instead, the results suggest that national and regional contexts played a more significant role for two reasons: (1) persistent differences in the capacity and willingness to implement mortality-relevant innovations between established and new EU member states and (2) the lack of harmonisation in social welfare policy during and after the 2004 EU enlargement.