Recent changes in social structure and health inequalities in Norway

The article explores whether changes in social structure from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s have been accompanied by any changes in ill health, both in the general population and in the association between socioeconomic positions and ill health.

Data were derived from four interview surveys conducted by Statistics Norway: The Health Surveys from 1985 and 1995 and the Surveys of Level of Living from 1987 and 1995. These surveys provide nationwide representative samples of the adult population. The analyses are confined to the population between 25 and 64 years of age. Simple cross-tabulations, age-standardized cross-tabulations, and logistic regression analysis were used. In addition, a more genuine measure of inequality was calculated--the so-called concentration index.

In the examined period, the educational level of the population gradually improved, and more people had white collar jobs. On the other hand, the decade was a turbulent one in economic terms, and more people experienced unemployment and early retirement from work during the early 1990s than during the preceding period. Nevertheless, levels of ill health, as measured in terms of self-reported limiting long-standing illness and global self-perceived health, were only marginally altered. Also, health differentials according to socioeconomic positions were only trivially changed during this period.

In the mid-1990s, as in the mid-1980s, lower socioeconomic positions, such as unemployment and early retirement, only basic education, and workers' occupations, are generally connected to poorer health. No substantial change in this association is detected in this period.