INEQ-CITIES

SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITIES IN MORTALITY: EVIDENCE AND POLICIES IN CITIES OF EUROPE

Welcome to INEQ-CITIES, a study of socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in census tracts of 15 European cities at the beginning of the XXI century.

Within the countries of Europe, there are many examples of systematic differences in health between different social groups. Most disadvantaged groups have worse health and higher morbidity and mortality. In this sense, people of disadvantaged social classes and people living in deprived areas are the worst off. These inequalities in health are more marked in urban areas. Cities are characterised by geographical segregation of social classes, resulting in heterogeneous neighbourhoods with different socioeconomic and health characteristics. Given that the majority of the population lives in urban areas, there are relatively few studies analysing socioeconomic inequalities in health in these areas. Comparison of patterns of inequalities in health across several cities in Europe with different social and political contexts will help the understanding of these inequalities. Moreover, comparative analysis of interventions and policies to tackle inequalities in health in urban areas will be useful to make recommendations for the future. 

INEQ-CITIES will identify the social and health policies undertaken in these cities in order to make recommendations to monitor and to tackle these inequalities. The project is co-ordinated by the Agencia de Salut Publica de Barcelona, and includes collaborations with researchers in Belgium, Hungary, Finland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Romania, and the Czech Republic.