Overall versus socioeconomic health inequality: a measurement framework and two empirical illustrations

Abstract

This paper outlines a framework for comparing empirically overall health inequality and socioeconomic health inequality. The framework, which is developed for both individual-level data and grouped data, is illustrated using data on malnutrition amongst Vietnamese children and on health utility amongst Canadian adults. In both cases, the degree of socioeconomic inequality is estimated at around 25% of overall inequality.