Differences in mortality by housing tenure and by car access from the OPCS Longitudinal Study

Housing tenure and household access to a car are useful indicators of socio-economic status. They are simple to collect and process in censuses and surveys, and are effective discriminators of mortality. They can be used for all members of the population including children, women and the retired. These are groups where socio-economic differences in mortality based on occupation can be difficult to interpret. Using Longitudinal Study data, this article presents an analysis of differences in male and female mortality in England and Wales in the 1980s according to household tenure and car access. The findings are compared with those observed in the 1970s. Mortality levels are lower in the 1980s for all groups. The analyses suggest that differences across tenure and car access groups have increased in relative and absolute terms, particularly for those under 65.