Explore international trends in health and longevity--with a special focus on older women! This essential book examines the latest research on life expectancy and “active life expectancy”--the number of years that women can expect to live free from major disability--in developed and developing countries around the world. It also explores the policy implications of the contributors’ findings. Here you'll find a global study using data from the World Health Organization, a European study using data from OECD countries, and studies of women in the United Kingdom, Fiji, The Netherlands, Japan, Canada, and the United States. With contributions from demographers, economists, epidemiologists, gerontologists, medical statisticians, policy analysts, physicians, public health directors, and sociologists, International Perspectives on Health Expectancies for Older Women compares mortality and morbidity trends in various populations. In addition to reviewing the current literature on active life expectancy, this informative book looks at: the distribution of total, unimpaired, and impaired life for several groups of older women defined by race, education, and marital history gender differences in health profiles in The Netherlands gender differences in life with and without six major diseases, including both morbid and mortal conditions in the United States how mortality and morbidity patterns differ for Canadian women and men 45 years of age and older, focusing on risk factors and chronic conditions such as low income, low education, abnormal body mass index, lack of physical activity, smoking, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis patterns of healthy life expectancy for older women around the globe a comparison of the development and progression of physical disability in Japanese men and women and more!