Health Inequalities in European Welfare States

Social inequalities in health are substantial §throughout Europe. It is widely acknowledged §that welfare states are important determinants of §health in European countries as they mediate the §extent and impact of socio-economic position on §health. The concept of welfare state regimes has §therefore been used to analyze cross-national §differences in population health. The present book §adds to this literature with recent data from the §European Social Survey, covering up to 80 000 people §in 25 countries. It thereby constitutes one of the §most extensive comparative studies of health §inequalities ever performed. It demonstrates that §the overall level and the magnitude of self-§perceived health inequalities according to people s §educational attainment, occupational status and §income level are not always randomly distributed §between welfare state regimes. One of the key §findings is that although the egalitarian §Scandinavian welfare regime scores well on overall §health, it does not exhibit the smallest §inequalities.