The social distribution of life chances with Belgian children, 1991-1995 – 2004-2005

There is convincing scientific evidence of a negative association between socio-economic position and mortality at different stages of life, especially adulthood. For children and adolescents, the evidence is less extensive and convincing as low levels of child mortality hinder detailed analyses. The aim of this study is to investigate the social patterning of Belgian child mortality using linked register data on mortality and census data on socioeconomic characteristics. The data for this analysis are rather exceptional outside the Scandinavian context and allow for an in-depth investigation of childhood inequalities. Several indicators of parental socioeconomic position and socio-demographic background are integrated and analyses are stratified in order to find out to what extent inequalities vary by sex and age group (0-4, 5-9 and 10-14). Integration of causes of death data provide additional clues on the origin of inequalities during childhood. Information is available for two periods in time (1991-1995 and 2001-2004), allowing for an examination of time trends in child mortality differences. The research results confirm the international patterns, differences generally being larger at young ages, among boys, for external causes and showing an increasing trend between the 1990s and the 2000s.