Trends in educational and occupational differentials in all-cause mortality in Austria between 1981/82 and 1991/92

Comparative international studies regularly find an increase in mortality differentials by education and socioeconomic group. We are interested in whether the same is true for Austria, a country for which no previous comparable study exists. On the basis of linked death and census records for the Austrian population in the years 1981/82 and 1991/92, we observed a widening gap in educational and occupational differentials of Austrian men in relative and absolute mortality from all causes. The increase was restricted to ages 50 to 74, whereas mortality differentials at younger and older ages were unchanged or slightly lower. The growing gap resulted from increasing mortality advantages for men with tertiary education, the highest educational group. Their absolute mortality and relative mortality risks decreased faster than those of all other educational groups. Educational differentials among women remained unchanged.