The income gradient in mortality during the Covid-19 crisis: evidence from Belgium [Decoster et al.]

The income gradient in mortality during the Covid-19 crisis: evidence from Belgium [Decoster et al.]

Using population-wide data from linked administrative registers, Decoster et al. study the distributional pattern of mortality before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in Belgium. Excess mortality is only found among those aged 65 and over. For this group, a significant negative income gradient in excess mortality is found, with excess deaths in the bottom income decile more than twice as high as in the top income decile for both men and women. However, given the high inequality in mortality in normal times, the income gradient in all-cause mortality is only marginally steeper during the peak of the health crisis when expressed in relative terms. Leveraging their individual-level data, they gauge the robustness of our results for other socioeconomic factors and find that conclusions about the income gradient in excess mortality based on aggregate data can be misguided.

The analysis is published as a working paper of the Department of Economics, KU Leuven: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/3200167 (direct link to the PDF: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/589177).

A Dutch version of the manuscript is available as "De inkomensongelijkheid in sterfte tijdens de COVID-19 crisis in België": https://lirias.kuleuven.be/3237141 (direct link to the PDF: https://lirias.kuleuven.be/retrieve/590745).

The analysis was also covered by the media, e.g. https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20201014_93638741.

About HELICON

HELICON is funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy (BELSPO) through the BRAIN-be 2.0 (2018-2023) programme.

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Project coordinator

Prof. dr. Brecht Devleesschauwer

Sciensano, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Service Health Information

brecht.devleesschauwer@sciensano.be