Revision of the European standard population. Report of Eurostat’s task force. 2013 edition

The use of a standard population is a very useful tool for comparisons of mortality rates as well as other population-based rates such as the ones on disease incidence. Age standardization is one of the key methods to control for different age distributions among populations, or over time. The European standard population in use for the standardization of crude rates dates back to 1976. Therefore it was necessary to adapt it to the changes in age-structure of the population that occurred in the EU Member States since the mid-seventies. The revised European Standard Population (ESP), based on the work done by the Task Force on the revision of the European standard population, was agreed by Member States. It includes the EU27 plus EFTA countries, on the basis of 2010-based population projections, averaged over the period 2011-30. It will be in use from summer 2013 onwards.

Eurostat: News Release No.178, 2013: Circulatory diseases main cause of death for men and women aged 65 years and over http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-press-releases/-/3-28112013-AP

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