El estado de salud de los uruguayos

Research has established that health status is affected not only by medical factors but also by socioeconomic variables. In this paper we analyze the links between health status (measured by self-reported illness occurrence in the last 12 months) and individuals’ socioeconomic situation. Using the annual households surveys of Uruguay for the period 1991 to 2000, we compute probit models and find that men, unmarried, those who do not live alone, young people, those who have a job and those with more than 5 years of education, have a smaller probability of reporting a bad health status. Also, we evaluate the evolution of self-reported health status during this 10-years period and find that the probability of reporting a bad health status has a descendent trend, being 0,34 in 1991 and 0,25 in 2000.