Is there a common background behind growing inequalities in mortality in Western European countries?
Seppo Koskinen National Public Health Institute, Department of Health and Disability, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN 00300 Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: seppo.koskinen{at}ktl.fi’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–> Advancing social equity in health has been a main objective in the WHO s Health for All programmes as well as in numerous documents outlining national health policies in countries all over the world since the early 1980s. Nevertheless, existing evidence suggests that contrary to the political aim health disparities have actually increased, particularly if we consider the gravest indicator of ill health, mortality.1 4 In this issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology, Mackenbach et al. show that, in all the six European countries included in their analysis, relative mortality disparities in the middle-aged population have continued to widen markedly at least up to the mid-1990s.5 Also, in absolute terms, the inequities have slightly increased in most cases. In each country, i.e. the four
