Health Inequalities Among Danish Retirees 2004-2022
Using Danish SHARE data from 2004–2022, we examine income gradients in health among retirees ages 60–79 across functional, diagnosed, comprehensive, mental, and cognitive domains. Higher-income retirees are healthier across all dimensions, but the evolution of inequality differs across measures. Functional and comprehensive health gaps narrow over time because lower-income retirees improve, whereas mental health gaps remain large and persistent. Diagnosed and cognitive health show smaller, less stable gradients. Overall, health inequality at older ages is substantial but not uniform: physical health disparities compress, while mental health disparities show no sign of convergence.
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Copy CitationPaul Bingley, Nabanita Datta Gupta, Malene Kallestrup-Lamb, and Alexander O.K. Marin, "Health Inequalities Among Danish Retirees 2004-2022," NBER Working Paper 35165 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w35165.Download Citation
Published Versions
Forthcoming: Health Inequalities Among Danish Retirees 2004–2022, Paul Bingley, Nabanita Datta Gupta, Malene Kallestrup-Lamb, Alexander O.K. Marin. in Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Pension Reforms and the Health Distribution of Retirees, Börsch-Supan and Coile. 2026