European post-industrial regions
Post-industrial decline is often cited as one of the major underlying reasons behind the poor health profile of West Central Scotland (WCS). We aimed to develop an understanding of how health and health related factors in WCS compared with other, similar, post-industrial areas in Europe.
Phase 1
The first phase of research identified, and compared long-term trends in mortality in, 20 post-industrial regions in Europe. This showed that mortality was generally lower and improving faster in the other regions compared to WCS – even in areas which appeared comparatively worse in terms of socioeconomic characteristics.
Download the Phase One report (published 2008), briefing paper and a summary journal paper.
Phase 2
The second phase sought to explore the reasons behind WCS's poor health status relative to these other comparable regions. This entailed two main research components:
- Detailed analysis of routinely available health and health determinant data for WCS and 11 other key regions (but with a particular focus on four specific: Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France, the Ruhr area in Germany, Northern Moravia in the Czech Republic and Silesia in Poland).
- Supporting a PhD student to examine the influences of historical, political and economic factors on health outcomes in the four mainland post-industrial regions above.
A briefing paper, summarising the results of the PhD research, is also available.
Related journal articles:
Related research
Note that this work also links with:
Research comparing Glasgow with two other post-industrial cities, Liverpool and Manchester.
A comparative analyses of deprivation and mortality in Glasgow and Belfast.