Health inequalities in urban and rural Canada: comparing inequalities in survival according to an individual and area-based deprivation index

Abstract

Social health inequalities are smaller in rural than urban areas because, some argue, people's social conditions are estimated at a small-area level, hiding variability at the individual or household level. This paper compares inequalities in survival according to an individual and area-based version of a deprivation index among a large sample of Canadians living in various urban and rural settings. Results show that survival inequalities in small towns and rural areas are lower than elsewhere when an area-based index is used, except in the remote hinterland, but of equal magnitude when the individual version of this index is considered.