Do unequal societies cause death among the elderly? A study of the health effects of inequality in Swedish municipalities in 2006

Figures & data

Fig. 1.  Income inequality using Gini coefficients in Swedish municipalities, 2006.

Fig. 2.  Mean disposable yearly income (in 1,000 SEK) in Swedish municipalities, 2006.

Fig. 3.  Mortality rate (deaths/1,000) in the 65–74 age group in Swedish municipalities, 2006.

Table 1. Linear regression.

	Parameter estimate	P value
Constant	0.025	0.000
Mean disposable income	−0.006	0.000
Income inequality, Gini coefficient	0.015	0.866

Mortality rate for the 65–74 age group dependent on mean disposable income and the Gini coefficient in Swedish municipalities, 2006.

Table 2. Logistic regression.

	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 4
	Est	P value	Est	P value	Est	P value	Est	P value
Sex (ref. female)
Male	0.64	0.00	0.64	0.00	0.64	0.00	0.64	0.00
Birth year	−0.09	0.00	−0.09	0.00	−0.09	0.00	−0.09	0.00
Marital status (ref. married)
Widowed	0.34	0.00	0.34	0.00	0.34	0.00	0.34	0.00
Unmarried	0.56	0.00	0.56	0.00	0.56	0.00	0.56	0.00
Divorced	0.50	0.00	0.50	0.00	0.50	0.00	0.50	0.00
Education (ref. second stage, tertiary educ.)
No information	0.27	0.00	0.28	0.00	0.26	0.00	0.27	0.00
Primary education	0.14	0.00	0.14	0.00	0.14	0.00	0.14	0.00
Lower second. educ.	0.12	0.00	0.12	0.00	0.12	0.00	0.12	0.00
Upper second. Educ.	−0.21	0.00	−0.21	0.00	−0.21	0.00	−0.21	0.00
Tertiary educ.	−0.38	0.00	−0.38	0.00	−0.39	0.00	−0.38	0.00
Disposable individual income. (ref. mean)
Highest	−0.34	0.00	−0.34	0.00	−0.34	0.00	−0.02	0.92
High	−0.18	0.00	−0.17	0.00	−0.17	0.00	−0.50	0.02
Low	0.20	0.00	0.20	0.00	0.20	0.00	0.37	0.08
Lowest	0.05	0.09	0.05	0.09	0.05	0.09	0.19	0.41
Mean disposable income in municip.			−0.05	0.00	−0.22	0.00	−0.21	0.01
Income inequality in municip. (Gini)					1.08	0.00	1.24	0.02
Interaction disposable individual income/income inequality
Highest/Gini							1.05	0.13
High/Gini							−0.99	0.18
Low/Gini							−0.52	0.43
Lowest/Gini							−0.46	0.54
Intercept	165.04	0.00	165.24	0.00	165.07	0.00	164.90	0.00
AIC	1,23,519		1,23,513		1,23,509		1,23,508

Deaths between the ages of 65 and 74 years in Sweden, 2006.

Table 3. Estimated expected risks of death for four hypothetical individuals in Sweden, 2006

Sex	Marital status	Disp/1,000	Education	MeanDisp/1,000	Gini	Birth year	Death risk
Female	Married	1.63	Upper sec.	1.63	0.3	1936	0.00899
Male	Married	1.63	Upper sec.	1.63	0.3	1936	0.01685
Male	Single	1.63	Upper sec.	1.63	0.3	1936	0.02916
Male	Married	1.63	Upper sec.	1.63	0.4	1936	0.01858