Health inequalities in Argentina and Italy: A comparative analysis of the relation between socio-economic and perceived health conditions

Abstract In the literature there is a lack of investigation on health inequalities in South America and their differences with respect to those in the developed countries. Since Italy has recorded similar economic trends in recent years and has some similarities with Argentina, we decided to use the Mediterranean country for comparative purposes. Our hypothesis was that, beyond structural differences, health inequalities present similar patterns in these two countries characterized by a capitalist economy. Social groups in advantaged educational and occupational positions exhibit better health than disadvantaged groups. We present some descriptive statistics on the overall situation in the two countries, and we then analyse data stemming from two surveys that collected individual information on social conditions and health statuses (OASD from 2010 to 2015, and “Multiscopo – Health condition and use of health services”, ISTAT 2013). The findings show that Argentina and Italy have different levels of wellbeing, mortality rates, and health services. But relative disparities in health seem very similar, confirming the hypothesis of Marmot (2017) about the general form of health inequalities. Manual and precarious workers (in particular unemployed persons) present systematically worse perceived health with respect to higher social classes.