Health and social inequities in Switzerland

Despite standards of living and life expectancy amongst the highest in Europe, Switzerland exhibits fairly substantial social inequities in health. As regards male mortality by socio-economic group, these differentials are both marked and independent of cause of death. There is a wealth of information on morbidity and disability supporting the hypothesis that people in lower socio-economic groups tend to age faster and suffer more at younger ages. It is similarly evident that infants of low class mothers, particularly those unwed, underprivileged immigrant, are at excess risk. The Swiss results are of political and scientific interest in that they suggest that the average wealth of a community does not determine health differentials.