Relationship between socio-demographic and economic determinants of cause-specific mortality in the EU countries in the period 2011 – 2014

Abstract

The article focuses on determinants of mortality and evaluates selected socio-demographic and economic sets of indicators. Our data matrix includes 112 observations for the EU28 countries in the period 2011 – 2014 (5 indicators of socio-demographic and economic determinants of health and 5 indicators of standardized cause-specific mortal-ity). The data is calculated using canonical correlation analysis, composite indicator and multiple regressions. Computed cause-specific mortality index shows most favourable mortality structures in Finland and France and unfavourable in Hungary. The correla-tions between socio-demographic, economic determinants and cause-specific mortality in the EU countries exist on the following levels. In the countries with very high GDP per capita generally people less often die of circulation disorders (e.g., Finland, France, Ger-many) and with lower GDP per capita it shows higher mortality rates relate to circulation system disorders and diabetes (e.g., Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary). In the countries with lower levels of educational attainment, people generally most often die of circulation dis-orders (e.g., Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy) and people with higher educational attain-ment more often die of disease of nervous system (e.g., Finland, Belgium, Denmark). The levels of socio-demographic and economic determinants and the mortality structures correlate in the EU countries, but show different quality. The regional disparities in cause-specific mortality still persist between the countries of the northern, the western and the southern Europe. An unfavourable rate mortality was further affirmed in eastern and south-eastern Europe.