Educational Inequalities in Self-Rated Health in Europe and South Korea

Minhye Kim, Young-Ho Khang, Hee-Yeon Kang and Hwa-Kyung Lim
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Minhye Kim: Institute of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, 103 Daehak-ro (Yeongeon-dong) Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Korea
Young-Ho Khang: Institute of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, 103 Daehak-ro (Yeongeon-dong) Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Korea
Hee-Yeon Kang: Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 103 Daehak-ro (Yeongeon-dong) Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Korea
Hwa-Kyung Lim: Institute of Health Policy and Management, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, 103 Daehak-ro (Yeongeon-dong) Jongno-gu, Seoul 03080, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: While numerous comparative works on the magnitude of health inequalities in Europe have been conducted, there is a paucity of research that encompasses non-European nations such as Asian countries. This study was conducted to compare Europe and Korea in terms of educational health inequalities, with poor self-rated health (SRH) as the outcome variable. The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2017 were used (31 countries). Adult men and women aged 20+ years were included (207,245 men and 238,007 women). The age-standardized, sex-specific prevalence of poor SRH by educational level was computed. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative index of inequality (RII) were calculated. The prevalence of poor SRH was higher in Korea than in other countries for both low/middle- and highly educated individuals. Among highly educated Koreans, the proportion of less healthy women was higher than that of less healthy men. Korea’s SII was the highest for men (15.7%) and the ninth-highest for women (10.4%). In contrast, Korea’s RII was the third-lowest for men (3.27), and the lowest among women (1.98). This high-SII–low-RII mix seems to have been generated by the high level of baseline poor SRH.

Keywords: cross-cultural comparison; health status disparities; European Union; Republic of Korea (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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