- 129 - GEOGRAPHIA CASSOVIENSIS XIV 2/2020 Relationship between socio-demographic and economic determinants of cause-specific mortality in the EU countries in the period 2011 – 2014 Dana HÜBELOVÁ, Alice KOZUMPLÍKOVÁ, Petra KOSOVÁ, Veronika WALICOVÁ Abstract: The article focuses on determinants of mortality and evaluates selected socio- demographic and economic sets of indicators. Our data matrix includes 112 observations for the EU28 countries in the period 2011 – 2014 (5 indicators of socio-demographic and economic determinants of health and 5 indicators of standardized cause-specific mortal- ity). The data is calculated using canonical correlation analysis, composite indicator and multiple regressions. Computed cause-specific mortality index shows most favourable mortality structures in Finland and France and unfavourable in Hungary. The correla- tions between socio-demographic, economic determinants and cause-specific mortality in the EU countries exist on the following levels. In the countries with very high GDP per capita generally people less often die of circulation disorders (e.g., Finland, France, Ger- many) and with lower GDP per capita it shows higher mortality rates relate to circulation system disorders and diabetes (e.g., Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary). In the countries with lower levels of educational attainment, people generally most often die of circulation dis- orders (e.g., Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy) and people with higher educational attain- ment more often die of disease of nervous system (e.g., Finland, Belgium, Denmark). The levels of socio-demographic and economic determinants and the mortality structures correlate in the EU countries, but show different quality. The regional disparities in cause-specific mortality still persist between the countries of the northern, the western and the southern Europe. An unfavourable rate mortality was further affirmed in eastern and south-eastern Europe. Keywords: socio-demographic determinants, economic determinants, cause-specific mor- tality, public health, EU countries Introduction The aim of this article is to compare the incidence and development of selected causes of death with the socio-demographic and economic determinants that affect life in the EU coun- tries. The intention is also to determine regional differences of these determinants and mortal- ity index, which is created as a composite indicator composed of selected causes of death. The strong effect of socio-demographic and economic factors on population health, mor- bidity and mortality is currently considered objectively proven (Marmot et al. 2008, Marmot, Bell 2012). Socio-demographic and economic determinants are used for rating the population health and health condition by several large national and international comparative studies, such as the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE 2018), the European Health Interview Survey a European Community Health Indicators (EC 2012, Börsch-Supan et al. 2013, Minicuci et al. 2016). These determinants are also in the focus of attention of some longitudinal studies, including the Study of Global Ageing and Adult Health, English Longi- tudinal Study of Ageing or the Health and Retirement Study (Minicuci et al. 2016). ______________________ DOI: https://doi.org/10.33542/GC2020-2-01