Funcionamiento del ascensor social en España y posibles mejoras. Informe SESPAS 2014

García-Altés, Anna; Ortún Rubio, Vicente

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2014.03.010

Funcionamiento del ascensor social en España y posibles mejoras. Informe SESPAS 2014

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García-Altés A, Ortún V. Funcionamiento del ascensor social en España y posibles mejoras. Informe SESPAS 2014. Gaceta Sanitaria. 2014;28 Suppl 1:31-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.gaceta.2014.03.010

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the extent to which an individual's socioeconomic status is inherited and how equality of opportunity could be increased to improve social mobility. Poverty and deprivation can stop being dynastic-like if the social elevator works. In Spain, income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, rose from 0.31 in 2006 to 0.35 in 2012 (moving away from Scandinavia and Central Europe and more closely resembling income inequality in the UK or the United States), while the degree of intergenerational mobility is half-way between that in Italy and the United States. To change this situation and make the social elevator work, primary education should be improved and the health system should be steered toward primary healthcare. This will not be feasible without an improvement in politics and the institutional framework that determine these factors.