A simplified method was used in the present study to calculate the average life expectancy of newborn children in Bulgaria. In contrast to the classical methods for constructing mortality tables, this method is not time consuming and does not require complex mathematical calculations and therefore easily accessible for public health bodies and institutions. The average life expectancy of newborn children, by sex and place of residence, was calculated for the following periods: 1994- 1946, 1954-1956, 1963-1965, 1973-1975, 1983-1985. Relevant conclusions and recommendations were made.
PIP: Mortality is best studied by constructing mortality tables which show the dying pattern spread in time of the individuals belonging to a randomly chosen group of people born at one and the same time. Mortality tables therefore can also be used to calculate average life expectancy. This classical approach, however, requires complicated mathematical calculations and is too time-consuming and expensive for routine use by public health bodies and institutions. Mey and Andreds developed a simplified method to calculate the average life expectancy and reported it at the Demography and Medicine Symposium held in the former German Democratic Republic on September 30, 1986. Results obtained using their method are highly consistent with those of conventional methods. The method can be used to calculate life expectancy for relatively small population groups as well as for the population of entire regions. The author applies the Mey and Andreds approach in a dynamical investigation of the average life expectancy of newborns in Bulgaria, by sex and place of residence, in the years 1944-46, 1954-56, 1963-65, 1973-75, and 1983-85; years coinciding with the population censuses conducted in Bulgaria after September 9, 1944, a point after which available data on the age structure of the Bulgarian population became more accurate. The author further validates the applicability of the simplified method of determining average life expectancy through his findings of an increasing average life expectancy for the entire population and for both sexes in Bulgaria up to 1963-65, after which a decline was observed due to deteriorated living conditions. The average life expectancy for all periods studied was higher for girls than for boys. Further, the average life expectancy in urban areas was higher than in rural areas.