THE INFLUENCE OF URBANIZATION AND GENDER ON THE HEALTH STATUS IN EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

In our endeavor to analyze the influence of urbanization and gender on self-perceived health status among the member states, we started by using an assessment scale, with a score ranging from 1 to 5 points for the 5 levels pertaining to the health status, as well as by determining an average score of the health status for each member state, by gender or by degree of urbanization. Ranking the scores, building Crosstabs and determining the Kendall and Spearman coefficients were the fundamental methods used in analyzing the influence of urbanization and gender on the health status in European Union (EU), and the results confirmed the fact that there is a connection between these variables. Thus, the population living in “cities” (where we have the highest degree of urbanization) tended to rate their health better than the population living in “rural” areas (where we have the lowest degree of urbanization), and the males tended to rate their health better than females.