Table 3

Estimates of the welfare impact of socioeconomic inequalities in health, EU-25 member states, 2004

	Total value^*		Impact of health inequalities^†
	In billion €	As % of GDP	As proportion (%) of each item	In billion €	As % of GDP
GDP of EU-25, 2004	10451	100.0%
Health as a capital good: GDP income components^‡
Wages and salaries	4071	39.0%	2.8	113	1.08%
Firm profits, mixed income, etc	4021	38.5%	0.7	28	0.27%
Total income	8092	77.4%	1.7	141	1.35%
Health as a consumption good^§
Mortality	NA	NA	NA	700	6.7%
Morbidity	NA	NA	NA	280	2.7%
Total health	NA	NA	NA	980	9.4%
Healthcare costs
Physician services	157	1.5%	16.4	26	0.25%
Hospital services	267	2.6%	22.1	59	0.56%
Total health services	888	8.5%	20.0	177	1.70%
Social security benefits
Unemployment benefits	178	1.7%	2.7	5	0.05%
Disability benefits	222	2.1%	24.7	55	0.53%
Total benefits	401	3.8%	14.7	60	0.57%

↵* Source: Eurostat website or OECD website (healthcare costs).
↵† The impact of health inequalities was estimated on the basis of the estimates of inequality related losses to health as presented in table 1. The % estimates in column 3 were multiplied with column 1 to obtain an estimate of the absolute amounts in column 4.
↵‡ In 2004, the average gross monthly income from wages and salary earnings in EU-25 was estimated to be €726 per person. Under the ‘levelling up’ scenario, this average increases by 2.77% to €746 per person. When only the impact of the ‘levelling up’ scenario on gross earnings of employees is counted, the impact on total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be 39% times 2.77% or 1.1% of GDP. Through firm profits and income of self-employed persons, a ‘levelling up’ scenario will increase the second GDP component by (gross operating surplus and mixed income, accounting for 38% of GDP) by 0.7%, which translates into 0.3% of GDP.
↵§ See main text.