Regional inequalities in life expectancy and lifespan variation by educational attainment in Spain, 2014–2018

Abstract

Two important sources of inequality in mortality are regional variation and individuals' socioeconomic status. While many studies have investigated the effect that each of these two factors might have had on mortality levels separately, they have rarely been studied simultaneously. Using linked data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, we study regional levels of life expectancy and lifespan inequality by sex and educational attainment in contemporary Spain (2014–2018). In all regions, life expectancy was higher (and lifespan variation lower) for individuals with higher educational attainment and among women. We find a negative relationship between life expectancy and lifespan inequality across subnational regions among all sex-education groups. However, the relationship is much weaker among the highly educated. These findings suggest that spatial conditions still matter as health determinants, but even more among individuals with disadvantaged socioeconomic positions, not only in terms of lower life expectancy but also of higher lifespan variation.