[EQ] Welfare state regimes and income-related health inequalities: a comparison of 23 European countries

Welfare state regimes and income-related health inequalities:
a comparison of 23 European countries

 

T. A. Eikemo^1,2,3, C. Bambra⁴, K. Joyce⁴ and Espen Dahl⁵

1 Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
2 SINTEF Health Research, Trondheim, Norway
3 Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands
4 Department of Geography, Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University, Durham, UK
5 Health Sciences and Social Welfare, Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway

Available online at: http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/18/6/593

 

“………..Studies focusing on individual health differences within wealthy nations have shown that there is a strong and consistent gradient along the whole income hierarchy.^1,2 It might, therefore, be expected that income-related health inequalities would be smaller in the Scandinavian countries than elsewhere given their relatively generous and universal welfare provision and the strong emphasis they place on equality of outcomes, such as income.³

However, from the few studies that have investigated health inequalities by European region, the Scandinavian countries do not perform as well on this in relation to other countries as might be expected given their relative standing in terms of overall population health and income inequalities. In fact, previous studies of the association between self-assessed health and relative income position in the wider European context have suggested that such health inequalities are perhaps not actually the smallest in the Scandinavian countries.^4–8

Instead, these empirical studies have almost consistently reported that income-related health inequalities are smallest in the Central European countries (particularly in Germany). In addition, they have reported that they are largest in the UK.

More recently, the comparative literature on income-related health inequalities has utilized the concept of welfare state regimes. It is widely acknowledged that welfare states are important determinants of health and health inequalities as they mediate the extent, and impact, of socio-economic position on health…..”

 

 

 

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