Regional Disparities in Mortality: the Case of North-Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

This paper examines intercounty mortality differentials 1979-1981 in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, two states of the FRG. Its objectives are the presentation and analysis of regional mortality patterns by sex, age group and cause of death. Interregional migration as a bias to studies of regional mortality differentials is examined. The statistical relationships between population density as a general socio-economic indicator and different sex and age specific mortality rates are studied. They were found to vary considerably by causes of death, here motor vehicle accident and lung cancer mortality.