Social inequality in Health in the Faore Islands

All over the world, health and disease are socially stratified, revealing an increased risk of diseases and
mortality for the less socially advantaged. The Faroe Islands have been thought to be a homogeneous
and equal society, which is supported by a relatively low-income inequality measured by the GINI
coefficient. Until now, presumptions on equality beyond income have been based merely on
‘speculations’ about this small-scale society in the North Atlantic.
The Faroe Islands have a welfare system where education and healthcare are financed through
taxation. Genetically the population is fairly homogeneous due to founder effects and centuries of
isolation. Furthermore, the segregation between social groups is far less in small-scale societies such as
the Faroe Islands, and private and professional relationships tend to be blurred. Some preliminary
efforts have investigated social inequality in health in the Faroe Islands. A study analysed the
association between educational level and type 2 diabetes. The results showed a social gradient in type
2 diabetes risk, with those with less than 10 years of education being at more than 4-fold risk compared
to those with more than 13 years of education. These results are in line with studies elsewhere but stand
in contrast to the common belief that social inequality in the Faroe Islands is negligible. We hypothesize
that health and disease are socially unequally distributed here to a similar extent as in the surrounding
nations. The aim of the proposed project is to investigate these relations and to dig into the potential
mechanism.