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Project

How inequality kills. Two centuries of social and spatial disparities in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Belgium (1800-2025) (FWOEOS19)

INEQKILL focuses on a crucial dimension of inequality in society, the disparity in death, coined ‘ultimate
inequality’. The COVID-19 pandemic has incited renewed interest into infectious diseases as potential drivers
of social and spatial mortality inequalities, alongside life-style disease (cardiovascular diseases and cancer)
and external causes of death. The project aims at generating new knowledge and insights into the origin and
development of inequalities in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Belgium. It tackles the long-term
evolution of mortality inequalities (1800-2025) using an interdisciplinary approach based on expertise from
demography, social epidemiology, medical geography and socioeconomic history. INEQKILL addresses the
following questions: How have social and spatial differences in cause-specific mortality evolved in the context
of rising living standards, improved social security and medical progress? How did these mortality patterns
vary according to age, gender and migration status? And which factors can explain these? Besides using
Belgium’s rich and unique statistical heritage, the project takes advantage of state-of-the-art geographic
information systems and statistical techniques. Integrating micro and macro level data, linking past and
present, and engaging with the wider public, INEQKILL embodies a major and original initiative in enhancing
our understanding of mortality inequalities in Belgium and beyond..
Date:1 Jan 2022 →  Today
Keywords:Demography, social mortality inequalities, spatial mortality inequalities, all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality,, administrative linked data, quantitative methods, longitudinal analysis
Disciplines:Mortality and health, Socio-economic history, Health geography