Life expectancy of Roma and Travellers in Europe
Marc Luy1
1Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, VID/OEAW, WU)
According to the data from the Council of Europe, life expectancy (LE) of the population of Roma and Travellers (RT) is between 10 and 15 years lower than that of the general population. However, all existing reports are substantially limited in the comprehensiveness and quality of the available data. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide estimates derived by a different approach and for subpopulations of RT for which no estimates exist so far. We used the 2019 RT Survey which was conducted in six European countries and allows the estimation of LE on the basis of proportions of still living parents with the “Orphanhood Method”. The results confirm the large extent of differences in LE between RT and the national populations. The estimated differences lie between 7.1 years for female Gypsies and Travellers in the UK and 14.2 years for male Roma and Caravan Dwellers in Belgium.