Unequal In The Face Of Death. A Case Study In Southern Spain (1850-1950)

This work analyses social inequality in relation to the demographic living conditions of the population, examining the relationship between economic development and mortality based on a case study: Vera, a town in southeast Spain. Most of the data was taken from censuses, population registers and parish burial records. The relationship between the standardized mortality rates of each socioeconomic group was the main indicator used to observe the differences in living conditions between occupational categories. The results show a progressive reduction of social inequality in mortality among adults between 1860 and the 1930s. This process of convergence is truncated dramatically in the postwar years. The behaviour of mortality disaggregated by socioeconomic categories seems to be in line with the evolution of nutritional factors and those related to hygienic advances and public health.