There can be no doubt, whatever the difficulties of measurement, that there are major differences in patterns of health and illness between societies, over time, and within a particular society. Historically, there have been long-term reductions in mortality in industrial societies, and on average life-expectancies are considerably higher in developed than developing societies. Ill-health and mortality are also related to age and sex. The young and the old are more vulnerable to sickness and death, and in most societies women live longer than men, though by some indices women experience more ill-health. There are also major differences by social class and ethnicity within societies. For example, Inequalities in Health: The Black Report ( P. Townsend and and N. Davidson , 1982)
found that in Britain death-rates of those aged 15 to 60 were some two and a half times as high for a person in social class V than in class I, and there is no sign of these differences declining.