Introduction

Even though it has been argued that in Scandinavian welfare research welfare includes far more than just economic resources, the latter are, of course, a central part of the concept since income and other economic resources can easily be transformed into goods and services that are regarded as important for a good life. Although average real incomes are lower in Sweden than in the UK, for example, more generous welfare state transfer programmes result in higher incomes at the lower ends of the income distribution in Sweden (Kenworthy, 2004). This also means that income inequalities are small in an international perspective, even though they have been increasing over the past decades (Fritzell, 2001). In fact, a relatively even income distribution, both in terms of wages and disposable income, can be considered an important outcome of the Nordic welfare state model (Kautto et al, 1999). As a result, poverty rates have been low and economic differences small in Sweden compared to many other developed nations. This being said, there are nevertheless clear differences in income and economic resources between individuals as well as between social groups.

The importance of economic resources for health and survival has been stressed for a long time. And although it is easy to imagine the immense effects of poverty and its consequences in terms of hunger, lack of proper housing, clothing and medical attention, poverty of that kind is no longer a common problem in developed countries. Hence, one might assume that the association between income and economic resources on the one hand, and poor health and mortality on the other hand, would be fairly weak in Sweden and many other European countries.

Yet this is in fact not the case. A number of studies have demonstrated clear differences in health between income layers. For example, Cavelaars et al (1998) compared self-reported morbidity by income level in six European countries and found higher morbidity rates in lower income groups. Their results indicate that health inequalities by income are smaller in Sweden and Finland than in Great Britain and the Netherlands. Since previous analyses of health inequalities by educational level and occupational class did not show smaller relative differences in the more egalitarian Nordic countries, they suggest that social policies in the Nordic countries have been more effective in reducing health inequalities in relation to income than in relation to educational or class differences.