Welfare state regimes and health inequalities

This chapter begins by re-evaluating the reasons one might have to expect that some welfare states regimes, and especially the Nordic ones, can be expected to influence inequalities in population health. It then examines whether the expected effects of welfare state regimes are observed in recent research on inequalities in health. It reviews the empirical evidence brought forward by recent comparative studies, paying special attention to comparative studies on health inequalities that include both Nordic countries and countries with different welfare state regimes. Available evidence shows that healthinequalities are not consistently, significantly, and systematically smaller in the social democratic countries than in countries belonging to the other welfare regimes, i.e., the conservative and the liberal. However, for inequalities in mortality, except for Finland, the other Scandinavian countries do perform rather well, in relative terms (Denmark and Norway) or in absolute terms (Norway and Sweden).