Trends of socioeconomic inequalities and socioeconomic inequalities in self-perceived health in Spain.

OBJECTIVE To study the trends of socioeconomic inequalities and socioeconomic inequalities in self-perceived health in Spain between 1987 and 2001. METHODS We estimated the distribution of educational level and per capita provincial income, and the differences in less-than-good self-perceived health by educational level and per capita provincial income in each period. RESULTS The percentage of the population that had completed secondary or higher education was larger and inequality in per capita provincial income was smaller in 2001 than in 1987. In general, the differences in less-than-good self-perceived health by educational level and provincial income were greater in 2001 than in 1987, in both absolute and relative terms. However, when the effect of residual correlation within provinces was taken into account, the differences by per capita provincial income were smaller in 1987 than in 2001. CONCLUSIONS The redistribution of socioeconomic resources achieves greater social justice, but probably does not lead to reduced health inequalities in all cases.