Educational Inequalities in Life and Healthy Life Expectancies among the 50-Plus in Spain

Aïda Solé-Auró, Unai Martín and Antía Domínguez Rodríguez
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Aïda Solé-Auró: DemoSoc Research Group, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
Unai Martín: Social Determinants of Health and Demographic Change—Opik Departament of Sociology 2, University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitate (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain
Antía Domínguez Rodríguez: Social Determinants of Health and Demographic Change—Opik Departament of Sociology 2, University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitate (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-10

Abstract: This study computes educational inequalities in life expectancy (LE), healthy life expectancy (HLE), and unhealthy life expectancy (ULE) by gender and education level in Spain in 2012. Death registrations and vital status by level of education were obtained from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics. Health prevalences were estimated from the National Health Survey for Spain. We used Sullivan’s method to compute HLE, ULE, and the proportion of time lived with health problems. Our results reveal that Spanish women live longer than men in all education groups, but a higher proportion of women report poor health. We detect substantial differences in unhealthy life by gender and education, with higher effect for women and for those with low levels of education. Poor self-perceived health shows the largest educational gradient; chronic diseases present the lowest. This is the first work that provides evidence on health inequalities by education level in Spain. Our findings seem to be in line with reports of the smaller social inequalities experienced in Southern Europe and highlight the importance of education level on extending the proportion of years spent in good health in a Mediterranean country.

Keywords: health inequalities; educational inequalities; life expectancy; healthy life expectancy; Spain; old people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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