World Bank Document

compatible with the hypothesis that the early years of life set risks for
health problems in adult life.
The increased prosperity also was associated with a decline in fer-
tility rates, an increase in child spacing, and a decrease in the number
of children in families—changes that would have reduced young
children’s risks of infection and poor growth and development. In
Western countries, the improved socioeconomic environment (in-
cluding better nutrition) associated with the Industrial Revolution
had beneficial effects on child development.
Recently, it has been shown that health and well-being of popu-
lations in different societies are a gradient when mortality data
are plotted against the socioeconomic position of individuals in the
population.

Health and Socioeconomic Gradients

By tracking the relationship between health and socioeconomic cir-
cumstances from established databases in Western society, researchers
have shown that there is a relationship between the socioeconomic
position of individuals in society and their health and well-being, at
least for industrialized countries in the 20th century. This relation-
ship has been termed asocioeconomic gradient in health.

46 J. Fraser Mustard

Height (cm)

Income/capita

Deaths/1,000 populationRelative index 1850=1

1850

Height

Deaths/1,000 population

Income/capita

1.8

170

168

166

164

162

160

1.4

1

0.6

0.2

1870 1890 1910

Figure 1. Economic Development and Health, Holland, 1850–1910

Source:Drukker and Tassenaar 1997.