Martin Dribe

Contemporary Western countries show a strong socioeconomic gradient in health and mortality, but it remains unclear if such a gradient existed in historical societies as well. We use linked full-count censuses and death registers for Sweden, covering the cohorts 1841-1920, to study the development of the socioeconomic differences in longevity across these cohorts. Initially men in white-collar occupations had shorter lifespans than working class men and farmers. The modern positive gradient does not become evident until the 1950s. For women, a modern gradient is apparent in all cohorts although differences were much smaller than today.