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The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on June 15, 2009
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp063
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The aftershock of deindustrialization—trends in mortality in Scotland and other parts of post-industrial Europe

David Walsh1, Martin Taulbut2 and Phil Hanlon3

1 Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Strathclyde House 6 (Level 1), 94 Elmbank Street Glasgow G2 4DL, Scotland, UK
2 NHS Health Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
3 University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Correspondence: David Walsh, Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Level 6, 39 St Vincent Place, Glasgow G1 2ER, Scotland, UK, tel: +44 141 287 6742, fax: +44 141 287 6955, e-mail: david.walsh{at}drs.glasgow.gov.uk

Received October 2, 2008 , accepted March 30, 2009

Background: Post-industrial decline is frequently cited as one of the major underlying reasons behind the poor health profile of Scotland and, especially, West Central Scotland (WCS). This begs the question: to what extent is poor health a common outcome in other post-industrial regions and how does Scotland's experience compare to these other comparable regions? Methods: Regions were identified by means of an expert-based consultation, backed up by analysis of regional industrial employment loss over the past 30 years. Mortality rates and related statistics were calculated from data obtained from national and regional statistical agencies. Results: Twenty candidate regions (in: Belgium; France; Germany; Netherlands; UK; Poland; Czech Republic) were identified, of which ten were selected for in-depth analyses. WCS mortality rates are generally higher and—crucially—appear to be improving at a slower rate than in the other post-industrial regions. This relatively poor rate of improvement is largely driven by mortality among the younger working age (especially male) and middle-aged female populations. Conclusion: WCS mortality trends compare badly with other, similar, post-industrial regions of Europe, including regions in Eastern Europe which tend to be characterized by higher levels of poverty. This finding challenges any simplistic explanation of WCS's poor health being caused by post-industrial decline alone, and begs the question as to what other factors may be at work.

Keywords: deindustrialization, life expectancy, mortality, Europe, Scotland


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