Social Inequalities in Men and Women’s Stature in Sweden, 1960-2020

Ingrid van Dijk , Lund University
Martin Dribe, Lund University

Stature is an indicator of the population living standard, and strong increases over the past century and a half in average stature have been linked to a lower impact of disease and improvements in nutrition and fetal health. However, there is evidence that even in contemporary populations with a high standard of living social inequalities in stature have persisted. We examine the trend in social inequalities in stature in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe and evaluate mechanisms that may contribute to the persistence of social inequalities in stature over time. We use Swedish register data, including conscript records – which contains men’s stature – and the medical birth registers which contain infant and women’s stature. The data is linked to parents’ socioeconomic background indicators. Moreover, we use European survey data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) wave 2, for 8 European countries, for comparative purposes. Results show that there is a persistence of a social gap in stature in Sweden similarly sized as in other European countries. For both men and women, a social gap in stature is found. Differences already exist at birth, indicating that possibly the intrauterine environment is a contributing factor. Moreover, father’s stature but not mother’s stature largely explains the differences in stature in children. Taken together, this evidence suggests that social differences in stature, indicative of individuals’ health, are shaped by social and health processes in early life and by social processes in previous generations.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session 22. Gender, Sex and Health