Educational differences in female cohort fertility vary strongly across high-income countries and over time, but knowledge about how educational fertility differentials play out at the sub-national regional level is limited. Examining these sub-national regional patterns might improve our understanding of national patterns, as regionally varying contextual conditions may affect fertility. This study provides for the first time for a large number of European countries a comprehensive account of educational differences in the cohort fertility rate (CFR) at the sub-national regional level. We harmonise data from population registers, censuses, and large-sample surveys for 15 countries to measure women's completed fertility by educational level and region of residence at the end of the reproductive lifespan. In order to explore associations between educational differences in CFRs and levels of economic development, we link our data to regional GDP per capita. Empirical Bayesian estimation is used to reduce uncertainty in the regional fertility estimates. We document an overall negative gradient between the CFR and level of education, and notable regional variation in the gradient. The steepness of the gradient is inversely related to the economic development level. It is steepest in the least developed regions and close to zero in the most developed regions. This tendency is observed within countries as well as across all regions of all countries. Our findings underline the variability of educational gradients in women's fertility, suggest that higher levels of development may be associated with less negative gradients, and call for more indepth sub-national-level fertility analyses by education.

From 1994 to 1998, Seville presented inequalities in total mortality and premature mortality, as well as in mortality by causes per BHA. Inequalities were present in men and women, although they were greater in men. There was a clear association between socioeconomic variables and mortality.

Highest life expectancy does not always mean best health as it has been assumed currently. The DFLE indicator is a useful tool to show health status differences among the Spanish population.

Introduction Geographical variations in cancer mortality can be explained, in part, by their association with social inequalities. The objective of our study was to analyse the spatial pattern of mortality in relation to the most common causes of cancer in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and its possible association with social inequalities. Materials and methods A small area cross-sectional study in Andalusia, with census tracts as units of spatial analysis, for the period 2002-2013. Cases and person-years, sex and age group came from the Longitudinal Population Database of Andalusia. Standardized mortality rates and smoothed risk ratios were calculated using the Besag, York and Mollié model for lung, colorectal, breast, prostate, bladder and stomach cancer. In order to evaluate the association with social inequalities we included the deprivation index of the census tract as a covariate. Results The results show an East-West mortality pattern with higher risk in the west for lung and bladder cancer among men, and breast cancer among women. For all of Andalusia, the association between deprivation index of the census tract and mortality relative risks is positive and significant for lung, stomach and bladder cancers in men, while in women we observed a negative association for lung cancer and a positive for stomach cancer. Conclusions Knowledge regarding the spatial distribution of cancer mortality and the socioeconomic inequalities related should contribute to the design of specific health and social policies-PLOS ONE

The objective of this article is to study the changes that have occurred in the mortality pattern of women of fertile age in Spain throughout the 20th century, the significance of maternal mortality in the development of this pattern, and the other causes of death that have contributed most to such changes. Female mortality has most often been approached from the perspective of the genetic differences from males--particularly from the sexual-biological, basically reproductive, aspect--without considering other possible (social) differences. We have studied the female mortality pattern from the double incline of date of death (period) and of date of birth (cohort). Using the mortality theory of competing risks as our basis, we excluded in turn maternal mortality and mortality due to tuberculosis from overall mortality, and analyzed the transformations produced in the mortality pattern. Our results show that maternal mortality alone cannot be held responsible for the excess female mortality of the 1910s and 1920s, or for the mortality pattern among women of fertile age during the first half of this century. We suggest that the social discrimination against females from infancy has been responsible for most of the differences observed in mortality patterns.