Abstract
Introduction or preface
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Using EU-SILC data for the years 2006-2009, this study examines the existence of a socioeconomic gradient in health. More
precisely, this work aims at understanding whether poverty (both objective and subjective) is associated with worse health
conditions among the elderly living in European countries. From the policy makers point of view, it is crucial to understand
the health consequences of objective poverty since it can be the focus of dedicated policies. However it may be the case that
subjective (self-assessed) poverty better synthesizes the living conditions of the elderly as well as their worries, hence
exerting a stronger effect on their health. The applied multilevel models confirm that the association between health and
subjective poverty is statistically significant even in those countries where objective poverty does not exert a significant
effect. Moreover, with the subjective indicator of poverty the economic gradient in health appears to be more pronounced.
However the relationship between objective poverty and health substantially traces that between subjective poverty and health.
This study shows that individual differences in material circumstances (objectively or subjectively defined) are associated
with different health conditions in the elderly populations of all European countries, notwithstanding the existence of well-known
cross-countries differences in terms of welfare regimes and average health of the elderly.
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