About the Project

Current socio-epidemiological theories often regard inequalities in mortality (or health) as a given and ignore the fundamental questions about their origins. In addition, the large majority of previous studies on international differences in mortality have focused on cross-country comparisons without taking the substantial regional variation within national populations into account. REDIM goes beyond the state of the art through performing large-scale systematic investigation of the causes of persisting and emerging spatial disparities in mortality across and within European countries. The scientific output of the project is crucial for the development and coordination of health policies aimed at reducing geographical inequalities in mortality between European regions.

Objectives

REDIM has three main objectives:

1. Measuring spatial disparities and the degree of convergence/divergence in cause-specific mortality across subnational entities of European countries.
2. Interpreting the observed patterns and trends by linking mortality data to contextual variables and national health policies.
3. Identifying evidence-based strategies and interventions to reduce regional disparities in mortality.

The project aims at performing comprehensive analyses of small-area geography of the mortality decrease with special attention to the spatial homogeneity/heterogeneity of the change and identification of typical vanguard and laggard sub-populations. The panel of studied countries will include various particular cases of health problems targeted by specific policy measures: alcoholism, smoking, traffic accidents, obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

Research Questions

REDIM focuses on two specific research questions:

1. How does the process of the general mortality decline diffuse across space, and what causes of death contribute most to this diffusion?
2. To what extent do national borders determine health borders?

REDIM tackles these research questions through analysing cause-specific mortality patterns and trends at NUTS-3 and NUTS-2 levels across more than 20 European countries using advanced research methods. Mortality indicators are interpreted in conjunction with contextual variables capturing the effects of the local context and the effectiveness of national health policies.

Research Tasks

The project is divided into three major stages (tasks):

1. Collecting and harmonising mortality data and contextual variables
2. Measuring geographical differences, identifying spatial clusters of cause-specific mortality, detecting discontinuities of mortality patterns at national borders
3. Explaining and interpreting geographical differences in mortality

Significance

The research agenda of the ERC funded project is highly relevant in the context of the integration process within the European Union, which aims to enhance the coordination of policies to promote more equal access to good health care and other benefits and assets in society. Apart from expected ground-breaking scientific output, REDIM will provide advanced tools for evaluating the effectiveness of policies within the framework of the European Spatial Development Perspective.

Expected Duration

08/2020–07/2025

Project Hosted by

Federal Institute for Population Research