Sven Drefahl
Biographic Data
| ID | 119803 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sven Drefahl |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sven |
| FAMILY NAME | Drefahl |
| SIGNATURE | DREFAHL S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stockholm University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4533-7558 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 160 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Invisible emigrants
This research examines the impact of population over-coverage on socio-demographic indicators for international migrants in Sweden. Over-coverage occurs when emigrants or deceased individuals remain in population registers, leading to overestimation of the resident population. This particularly affects migrants due to the increasing prevalence of return, onward, and circular migration. As register-based data collection becomes prevalent, addressi…
Cohabitation and Mortality Across the Life Course
Research has shown that married individuals live longer lives than unmarried women and men. A smaller number of studies have included non-marital cohabitation and have found that their mortality falls between the married and other unmarried groups. There are indications that the cohabiting population is diverse in terms of mortality risk, yet very little is known about how the association is related to age and stages of the life course. Sweden is…
Labor market disadvantages and mental health among the second-generation children of immigrants in Sweden. A population cohort study
Children of immigrants born in the host country -the second generation (G2)-face higher risks of unemployment and overqualification compared to the majority native population in Western Europe. While the health effects of unemployment and overqualification are well documented, it remains unclear whether these factors impact the mental health of the G2 in the same way as in the majority population. This study uses Swedish register data to examine …
Multiple systems estimation for studying over-coverage and its heterogeneity in population registers
The growing necessity for evidence-based policy built on rigorous research has never been greater. However, the ability of researchers to provide such evidence is invariably tied to the availability of high-quality data. Bias stemming from over-coverage in official population registers, i.e. resident individuals whose death or emigration is not registered, can lead to serious implications for policymaking and research. Using Swedish Population re…
Against the grain
International migrants and their children represent increasing shares of the populations of major host countries and have growing potential to affect estimates of national mortality. Yet, while many studies have observed mortality differences between migrants, their children, and the majority population, few have progressed beyond this point to quantify the actual impact of these differences upon national life expectancy levels. Studies that have…
Forecasting Inequalities in Survival to Retirement Age by Socioeconomic Status in Denmark and Sweden
In Denmark and Sweden, statutory retirement age is indexed to life expectancy to account for mortality improvements in their populations. However, mortality improvements have not been uniform across different sub-populations. Notably, in both countries, individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have experienced slower mortality improvements. As a result, a uniform rise in the statutory retirement age could disproportionally affect these low…
Mortality inequalities at retirement age between migrants and non-migrants in Denmark and Sweden
BACKGROUND: Denmark and Sweden index their statutory retirement ages to life expectancy. When lifespan increases, so does retirement age. This policy does not consider demographic heterogeneity in life expectancy, e.g., between migrants and non-migrants, posing possible issues for pension policies that index retirement age to life expectancy. OBJECTIVE: To understand how mortality inequalities between migrants and non-migrants interact with the i…
Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported Covid-19 deaths
BACKGROUND: The number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths differed across countries and across waves of the pandemic. Patterns also differed between groups within a country. OBJECTIVE: We combine data on excess mortality with data on cause-of-death-specific mortality in the case of Sweden to identify which groups had excess mortality beyond what can be captured by analyses of COVID-19-specific deaths. We also explore the possibility that some groups ma…
Is it Better to Intermarry? Immigration Background of Married Couples and Suicide Risk Among Native-Born and Migrant Persons in Sweden
Marriage is protective against suicide across most populations, including for persons of different ethnicities and immigrant backgrounds. However, the well-being benefits of marriage are contingent upon marital characteristics—such as conflict and quality—that may vary across spousal dyads with different immigration backgrounds. Leveraging Swedish register data, we compare suicide mortality among married persons on the basis of their and their sp…
The Swedish Kinship Universe
Given that surprisingly little is known about the demography of human kinship, we provide a demographic account of the kinship networks of individuals in Sweden in 2017 across sex and cohort between ages 0 and 102. We used administrative register data of the full population of Sweden to provide the first kinship enumeration for a complete population based on empirical data. We created ego-focused kinship networks of children, parents, siblings, g…
Immigration, mortality, and national life expectancy in the Nordic region, 1990–2019
Immigrants have higher life expectancy at age 1 than the native-born in Denmark, Finland and Norway do from 1990 to 2019.•Immigrants in Denmark, Finland and Norway increasingly enhance national life expectancy at age 1 over time.•Immigrants in Sweden have lower life expectancy at age 1 than native-born in Sweden do in 1990, but similar levels by 2019.•The effect of immigrants on national life expectancy at age 1 in Sweden transforms from negative…
A population-based cohort study of socio-demographic risk factors for Covid-19 deaths in Sweden
As global deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise, the world’s governments, institutions, and agencies are still working toward an understanding of who is most at risk of death. In this study, data on all recorded COVID-19 deaths in Sweden up to May 7, 2020 are linked to high-quality and accurate individual-level background data from administrative registers of the total population. By means of individual-level survival analysis we demonstrate that…
Regional trajectories in life expectancy and lifespan variation
An important dimension of inequality in mortality is regional variation. However, studies that investigate regional mortality patterns within and between national and regional borders are rare. We carry out a comparative study of Finland and Sweden: two welfare states that share many attributes, with one exception being their mortality trajectories. Although Finland has risen rapidly in the global life expectancy rankings, Sweden has lost its his…
Suicide among persons who entered same-sex and opposite-sex marriage in Denmark and Sweden, 1989–2016
BACKGROUND: People belonging to sexual minority groups have higher levels of suicidality than heterosexuals. However, findings regarding suicide death are sparse. Using unique national data from two countries, we investigated whether individuals entering a same-sex marriage (SSM), a proxy group of sexual minority individuals, had higher suicide rates than those entering opposite-sex marriage (OSM). METHODS: A cohort study of all males and females…
Over-coverage in population registers leads to bias in demographic estimates
Estimating the number of individuals living in a country is an essential task for demographers. This study assesses the potential bias in estimating the size of different migrant populations due to over-coverage in population registers. Over-coverage-individuals registered but not living in a country-is an increasingly pressing phenomenon; however, there is no common understanding of how to deal with over-coverage in demographic research. This st…
Is the age difference between partners related to women's earnings
Women earn less than men at most career stages. Explanations for a gender gap in wages include gender differences in the allocation of household and domestic work. At the family level, a marital age difference is an important shared characteristic that mig
All-cause mortality, age at arrival, and duration of residence among adult migrants in Sweden
The findings suggest that the mortality advantage commonly observed among immigrants is not universal. Combined information on age at arrival and duration of residence can be used to identify sensitive periods and to identify possible selection bias. The study also suggests that young immigrants are a vulnerable subpopulation. Given the increased number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Europe, targeted health or integration policies should be …
An application of diagonal reference models and time-varying covariates in social mobility research on mortality and fertility
Long‐Distance Migration and Mortality in Sweden
International migrants often have lower mortality rates than the native populations in their new host countries. Several explanations have been proposed, but in the absence of data covering the entire life courses of migrants both before and after each migration event, it is difficult to assess the validity of different explanations. In the present study, we apply hazard regressions to Swedish register data to study the mortality of long‐distance…
A Period Total Fertility Rate with Covariates for Short-Panel Data
Hoem et Mure?an ont récemment montré que l’indicateur agrégé de fécondité le plus largement utilisé, l’indice synthétique de fécondité, peut être compatible avec des estimations de fécondité tirées de l’application de l’analyse biographique à des données individuelles. Cette note de recherche a pour objectif d’étendre leurs propositions en montrant qu’elles peuvent être utilement appliquées à des panels courts où les mêmes personnes sont interrog…
Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915-1929
Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners
We examine the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy taking into account the employment (in)stability of both partners in a couple. We use data from four waves of the Italian section of the EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Condition), 2004-2
Do the Married Really Live Longer? The Role of Cohabitation and Socioeconomic Status
Numerous studies have shown that married women and men experience the lowest mortality. Legal marital status, however, does not necessarily reflect today's social reality because individuals are classified as never married, widowed, or divorced even when they are living with a partner. Denmark is one of the forerunners of developments in coresidential partnerships and one of only a few countries where administrative sources provide individual-lev…
How does the age gap between partners affect their survival
I use hazard regression methods to examine how the age difference between spouses affects their survival. In many countries, the age difference between spouses at marriage has remained relatively stable for several decades. In Denmark, men are, on average, about three years older than the women they marry. Previous studies of the age gap between spouses with respect to mortality found that having a younger spouse is beneficial, while having an ol…
Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners
We examine the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy taking into account the employment (in)stability of both partners in a couple. We use data from four waves of the Italian section of the EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Condition), 2004-2
Do the Married Really Live Longer? The Role of Cohabitation and Socioeconomic Status
Numerous studies have shown that married women and men experience the lowest mortality. Legal marital status, however, does not necessarily reflect today's social reality because individuals are classified as never married, widowed, or divorced even when they are living with a partner. Denmark is one of the forerunners of developments in coresidential partnerships and one of only a few countries where administrative sources provide individual-lev…
How does the age gap between partners affect their survival
I use hazard regression methods to examine how the age difference between spouses affects their survival. In many countries, the age difference between spouses at marriage has remained relatively stable for several decades. In Denmark, men are, on average, about three years older than the women they marry. Previous studies of the age gap between spouses with respect to mortality found that having a younger spouse is beneficial, while having an ol…
Long‐Distance Migration and Mortality in Sweden
International migrants often have lower mortality rates than the native populations in their new host countries. Several explanations have been proposed, but in the absence of data covering the entire life courses of migrants both before and after each migration event, it is difficult to assess the validity of different explanations. In the present study, we apply hazard regressions to Swedish register data to study the mortality of long‐distance…
Over-coverage in population registers leads to bias in demographic estimates
Estimating the number of individuals living in a country is an essential task for demographers. This study assesses the potential bias in estimating the size of different migrant populations due to over-coverage in population registers. Over-coverage-individuals registered but not living in a country-is an increasingly pressing phenomenon; however, there is no common understanding of how to deal with over-coverage in demographic research. This st…
The Swedish Kinship Universe
Given that surprisingly little is known about the demography of human kinship, we provide a demographic account of the kinship networks of individuals in Sweden in 2017 across sex and cohort between ages 0 and 102. We used administrative register data of the full population of Sweden to provide the first kinship enumeration for a complete population based on empirical data. We created ego-focused kinship networks of children, parents, siblings, g…
Regional trajectories in life expectancy and lifespan variation
An important dimension of inequality in mortality is regional variation. However, studies that investigate regional mortality patterns within and between national and regional borders are rare. We carry out a comparative study of Finland and Sweden: two welfare states that share many attributes, with one exception being their mortality trajectories. Although Finland has risen rapidly in the global life expectancy rankings, Sweden has lost its his…
Is the age difference between partners related to women's earnings
Women earn less than men at most career stages. Explanations for a gender gap in wages include gender differences in the allocation of household and domestic work. At the family level, a marital age difference is an important shared characteristic that mig
An application of diagonal reference models and time-varying covariates in social mobility research on mortality and fertility
Suicide among persons who entered same-sex and opposite-sex marriage in Denmark and Sweden, 1989–2016
BACKGROUND: People belonging to sexual minority groups have higher levels of suicidality than heterosexuals. However, findings regarding suicide death are sparse. Using unique national data from two countries, we investigated whether individuals entering a same-sex marriage (SSM), a proxy group of sexual minority individuals, had higher suicide rates than those entering opposite-sex marriage (OSM). METHODS: A cohort study of all males and females…
A Period Total Fertility Rate with Covariates for Short-Panel Data
Hoem et Mure?an ont récemment montré que l’indicateur agrégé de fécondité le plus largement utilisé, l’indice synthétique de fécondité, peut être compatible avec des estimations de fécondité tirées de l’application de l’analyse biographique à des données individuelles. Cette note de recherche a pour objectif d’étendre leurs propositions en montrant qu’elles peuvent être utilement appliquées à des panels courts où les mêmes personnes sont interrog…
Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915-1929
Cohabitation and Mortality Across the Life Course
Research has shown that married individuals live longer lives than unmarried women and men. A smaller number of studies have included non-marital cohabitation and have found that their mortality falls between the married and other unmarried groups. There are indications that the cohabiting population is diverse in terms of mortality risk, yet very little is known about how the association is related to age and stages of the life course. Sweden is…
Mortality inequalities at retirement age between migrants and non-migrants in Denmark and Sweden
BACKGROUND: Denmark and Sweden index their statutory retirement ages to life expectancy. When lifespan increases, so does retirement age. This policy does not consider demographic heterogeneity in life expectancy, e.g., between migrants and non-migrants, posing possible issues for pension policies that index retirement age to life expectancy. OBJECTIVE: To understand how mortality inequalities between migrants and non-migrants interact with the i…
Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported Covid-19 deaths
BACKGROUND: The number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths differed across countries and across waves of the pandemic. Patterns also differed between groups within a country. OBJECTIVE: We combine data on excess mortality with data on cause-of-death-specific mortality in the case of Sweden to identify which groups had excess mortality beyond what can be captured by analyses of COVID-19-specific deaths. We also explore the possibility that some groups ma…
Is it Better to Intermarry? Immigration Background of Married Couples and Suicide Risk Among Native-Born and Migrant Persons in Sweden
Marriage is protective against suicide across most populations, including for persons of different ethnicities and immigrant backgrounds. However, the well-being benefits of marriage are contingent upon marital characteristics—such as conflict and quality—that may vary across spousal dyads with different immigration backgrounds. Leveraging Swedish register data, we compare suicide mortality among married persons on the basis of their and their sp…
How does the age gap between partners affect their survival
I use hazard regression methods to examine how the age difference between spouses affects their survival. In many countries, the age difference between spouses at marriage has remained relatively stable for several decades. In Denmark, men are, on average, about three years older than the women they marry. Previous studies of the age gap between spouses with respect to mortality found that having a younger spouse is beneficial, while having an ol…
Whose job instability affects the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy? A tale of two partners
We examine the likelihood of becoming a parent in Italy taking into account the employment (in)stability of both partners in a couple. We use data from four waves of the Italian section of the EU-SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Condition), 2004-2
Do the Married Really Live Longer? The Role of Cohabitation and Socioeconomic Status
Numerous studies have shown that married women and men experience the lowest mortality. Legal marital status, however, does not necessarily reflect today's social reality because individuals are classified as never married, widowed, or divorced even when they are living with a partner. Denmark is one of the forerunners of developments in coresidential partnerships and one of only a few countries where administrative sources provide individual-lev…
Early life conditions, partnership histories, and mortality risk for Swedish men and women born 1915-1929
A Period Total Fertility Rate with Covariates for Short-Panel Data
Hoem et Mure?an ont récemment montré que l’indicateur agrégé de fécondité le plus largement utilisé, l’indice synthétique de fécondité, peut être compatible avec des estimations de fécondité tirées de l’application de l’analyse biographique à des données individuelles. Cette note de recherche a pour objectif d’étendre leurs propositions en montrant qu’elles peuvent être utilement appliquées à des panels courts où les mêmes personnes sont interrog…
Long‐Distance Migration and Mortality in Sweden
International migrants often have lower mortality rates than the native populations in their new host countries. Several explanations have been proposed, but in the absence of data covering the entire life courses of migrants both before and after each migration event, it is difficult to assess the validity of different explanations. In the present study, we apply hazard regressions to Swedish register data to study the mortality of long‐distance…
All-cause mortality, age at arrival, and duration of residence among adult migrants in Sweden
The findings suggest that the mortality advantage commonly observed among immigrants is not universal. Combined information on age at arrival and duration of residence can be used to identify sensitive periods and to identify possible selection bias. The study also suggests that young immigrants are a vulnerable subpopulation. Given the increased number of unaccompanied minors arriving in Europe, targeted health or integration policies should be …
An application of diagonal reference models and time-varying covariates in social mobility research on mortality and fertility
Is the age difference between partners related to women's earnings
Women earn less than men at most career stages. Explanations for a gender gap in wages include gender differences in the allocation of household and domestic work. At the family level, a marital age difference is an important shared characteristic that mig
A population-based cohort study of socio-demographic risk factors for Covid-19 deaths in Sweden
As global deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise, the world’s governments, institutions, and agencies are still working toward an understanding of who is most at risk of death. In this study, data on all recorded COVID-19 deaths in Sweden up to May 7, 2020 are linked to high-quality and accurate individual-level background data from administrative registers of the total population. By means of individual-level survival analysis we demonstrate that…
Regional trajectories in life expectancy and lifespan variation
An important dimension of inequality in mortality is regional variation. However, studies that investigate regional mortality patterns within and between national and regional borders are rare. We carry out a comparative study of Finland and Sweden: two welfare states that share many attributes, with one exception being their mortality trajectories. Although Finland has risen rapidly in the global life expectancy rankings, Sweden has lost its his…
Suicide among persons who entered same-sex and opposite-sex marriage in Denmark and Sweden, 1989–2016
BACKGROUND: People belonging to sexual minority groups have higher levels of suicidality than heterosexuals. However, findings regarding suicide death are sparse. Using unique national data from two countries, we investigated whether individuals entering a same-sex marriage (SSM), a proxy group of sexual minority individuals, had higher suicide rates than those entering opposite-sex marriage (OSM). METHODS: A cohort study of all males and females…
Over-coverage in population registers leads to bias in demographic estimates
Estimating the number of individuals living in a country is an essential task for demographers. This study assesses the potential bias in estimating the size of different migrant populations due to over-coverage in population registers. Over-coverage-individuals registered but not living in a country-is an increasingly pressing phenomenon; however, there is no common understanding of how to deal with over-coverage in demographic research. This st…
Immigration, mortality, and national life expectancy in the Nordic region, 1990–2019
Immigrants have higher life expectancy at age 1 than the native-born in Denmark, Finland and Norway do from 1990 to 2019.•Immigrants in Denmark, Finland and Norway increasingly enhance national life expectancy at age 1 over time.•Immigrants in Sweden have lower life expectancy at age 1 than native-born in Sweden do in 1990, but similar levels by 2019.•The effect of immigrants on national life expectancy at age 1 in Sweden transforms from negative…
Is it Better to Intermarry? Immigration Background of Married Couples and Suicide Risk Among Native-Born and Migrant Persons in Sweden
Marriage is protective against suicide across most populations, including for persons of different ethnicities and immigrant backgrounds. However, the well-being benefits of marriage are contingent upon marital characteristics—such as conflict and quality—that may vary across spousal dyads with different immigration backgrounds. Leveraging Swedish register data, we compare suicide mortality among married persons on the basis of their and their sp…
The Swedish Kinship Universe
Given that surprisingly little is known about the demography of human kinship, we provide a demographic account of the kinship networks of individuals in Sweden in 2017 across sex and cohort between ages 0 and 102. We used administrative register data of the full population of Sweden to provide the first kinship enumeration for a complete population based on empirical data. We created ego-focused kinship networks of children, parents, siblings, g…
Multiple systems estimation for studying over-coverage and its heterogeneity in population registers
The growing necessity for evidence-based policy built on rigorous research has never been greater. However, the ability of researchers to provide such evidence is invariably tied to the availability of high-quality data. Bias stemming from over-coverage in official population registers, i.e. resident individuals whose death or emigration is not registered, can lead to serious implications for policymaking and research. Using Swedish Population re…
Against the grain
International migrants and their children represent increasing shares of the populations of major host countries and have growing potential to affect estimates of national mortality. Yet, while many studies have observed mortality differences between migrants, their children, and the majority population, few have progressed beyond this point to quantify the actual impact of these differences upon national life expectancy levels. Studies that have…
Forecasting Inequalities in Survival to Retirement Age by Socioeconomic Status in Denmark and Sweden
In Denmark and Sweden, statutory retirement age is indexed to life expectancy to account for mortality improvements in their populations. However, mortality improvements have not been uniform across different sub-populations. Notably, in both countries, individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) have experienced slower mortality improvements. As a result, a uniform rise in the statutory retirement age could disproportionally affect these low…
Mortality inequalities at retirement age between migrants and non-migrants in Denmark and Sweden
BACKGROUND: Denmark and Sweden index their statutory retirement ages to life expectancy. When lifespan increases, so does retirement age. This policy does not consider demographic heterogeneity in life expectancy, e.g., between migrants and non-migrants, posing possible issues for pension policies that index retirement age to life expectancy. OBJECTIVE: To understand how mortality inequalities between migrants and non-migrants interact with the i…
Lives saved, lives lost, and under-reported Covid-19 deaths
BACKGROUND: The number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths differed across countries and across waves of the pandemic. Patterns also differed between groups within a country. OBJECTIVE: We combine data on excess mortality with data on cause-of-death-specific mortality in the case of Sweden to identify which groups had excess mortality beyond what can be captured by analyses of COVID-19-specific deaths. We also explore the possibility that some groups ma…
Cohabitation and Mortality Across the Life Course
Research has shown that married individuals live longer lives than unmarried women and men. A smaller number of studies have included non-marital cohabitation and have found that their mortality falls between the married and other unmarried groups. There are indications that the cohabiting population is diverse in terms of mortality risk, yet very little is known about how the association is related to age and stages of the life course. Sweden is…
Labor market disadvantages and mental health among the second-generation children of immigrants in Sweden. A population cohort study
Children of immigrants born in the host country -the second generation (G2)-face higher risks of unemployment and overqualification compared to the majority native population in Western Europe. While the health effects of unemployment and overqualification are well documented, it remains unclear whether these factors impact the mental health of the G2 in the same way as in the majority population. This study uses Swedish register data to examine …
Invisible emigrants
This research examines the impact of population over-coverage on socio-demographic indicators for international migrants in Sweden. Over-coverage occurs when emigrants or deceased individuals remain in population registers, leading to overestimation of the resident population. This particularly affects migrants due to the increasing prevalence of return, onward, and circular migration. As register-based data collection becomes prevalent, addressi…
Demography (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Population (18 works) · Geography (15 works) · Demography (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (13 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Demographic economics (11 works) · Gerontology (8 works)