Jonas Helgertz

There is a strong mortality gradient by socioeconomic status in most of today’s developed
countries, which has spurred both scientific and policy interest. Despite its importance, we
still do not have a full understanding of the causes of this gradient, nor about when it
emerged. In this paper we study socioeconomic differences in adult mortality for men and
women in Sweden over an almost 200-year period, using unique individual level register data.
Our main findings show a late emergence of the mortality gradient, regardless of whether
socioeconomic status is measured by occupational status, class, or income. We only find a
consistent socioeconomic gradient after 1970, even though some socioeconomic mortality
differences can also be observed somewhat earlier. Moreover, the mortality differentials
emerge slightly earlier for women than for men. These results suggest that today’s
socioeconomic mortality gradient is far from a universal phenomenon.