Individuals with low socioeconomic status have, on average, a shorter lifespan than individuals with high socioeconomic status. These inequalities are found across the globe; they are large; and they are persistent over time. Socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy are a key challenge of modern societies. They are both a cause and a consequence of unequal opportunities, and they have far-reaching consequences at both the individual and the societal level. For instance, they are a serious concern for the equitable design of pension policies, as individuals with high socioeconomic status spend more time in retirement and receive pensions for a longer time.
Inequalities in life expectancy by education have long been a focus of epidemiological and demographic research, as education is comparatively straightforward to measure, it is fixed from early adulthood and precedes other markers of attained socioeconomic status such as income or wealth, and it is a strong predictor…