Downloaded By: [Royal Hallamshire Hospital] At: 08:50 16 July 2008 Critical Public Health, December 2007; 17(4): 293–310 Sources of income, wealth and the length of life: An individual level study of mortality CLIVE E. SABEL 1 , DANNY DORLING 2 , & ROSEMARY HISCOCK 3 1 Imperial College London, UK, 2 University of Sheffield, UK, and 3 University of Canterbury, New Zealand Abstract The relationship between income and mortality is explored by examining mortality in each income decile and income source (from earnings, government or capital). Swedish individual level income data was analysed for approximately 6.5 million adults. The quality of our data is unprecedented for this type of study, in terms of size and completeness of population coverage and death registration. The results suggest that inequalities in mortality are marked even in Sweden, one of the affluent countries where the effects of health inequalities are assumed to be lowest worldwide. The only income source that was associated with beneficial outcomes for all population groups was earnings. Welfare payments, often associated with illness, are associated with higher mortality, particularly for men. Capital income (our ‘wealth’ indicator) generally reduces the risk of mortality but increases the risk for some younger groups. Keywords: Income, wealth, mortality, individual data, Sweden Introduction In this paper we explore the extent to which there is an association between income and mortality in all sectors of the population of a country with a strong welfare state and secondly we consider whether income source has any salience in that relationship. This paper presents an initial investigation of a very large, rich and unique database which permits more far-reaching conclusions than previously published on this topic. The aim of this investigation is to promote thought and further research rather than to provide definitive answers. The association between income and health has been extensively investigated across a range of countries and at a variety of geographic scales both within, and between countries (Ecob & Davey Smith, 1999; Kaplan, Pamuk, Lynch, Cohen, & Balfour, 1996; Lynch, 2000; Lynch, Davey Smith, Kaplan, & House, 2000; Lynch et al., 2004; Correspondence: Dr Clive E. Sabel, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Imperial College London, St. Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place, London, WZ IPG, UK. Tel: þ44 (0) 20 7594 3784. E-mail: c.sabel@imperial.ac.uk ISSN 0958-1596 print/ISSN 1469-3682 online/07/040293–310 ß 2007 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09581590701499335