We use data from the German Federal Statistical Office on population counts, births, deaths and income to study the development of socio‐economic inequality in mortality rates from 1990 to 2015 for different age groups and both genders. Ranking the 401 German districts by average disposable income per capita, we observe large inequalities in district‐level mortality rates in 1990, which had almost disappeared, or at least been flattened considerably, by 2015 particularly for infants, children and the very old. The most important driver of this reduction in inequality is German reunification in 1990. As indicated by more detailed analyses comparing districts in the former East and the former West, even five years after reunification there was a large gap in disposable income, with all Eastern districts considerably poorer than the poorest district in the West. At the same time, mortality rates were higher for all age groups and both genders in the East. Income has caught up, to the extent that there are equally poor districts in the East and West in most recent years (although the West is still much richer on average). Mortality rates in the East have improved considerably and are even below mortality rates for similarly poor districts in the West in the most recent data.

中文翻译：

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德国收入和死亡率的地域不平等*

我们使用德国联邦统计局提供的有关人口数量，出生，死亡和收入的数据，研究了1990年至2015年不同年龄段和性别的社会经济不平等死亡率的发展趋势。根据人均可支配收入对德国401个地区进行排名，我们观察到1990年地区水平的死亡率存在巨大不平等现象，到2015年，这种现象几乎消失了，或者至少已经趋于平缓，特别是对于婴儿，儿童和非常大的年龄段。减少不平等现象的最重要驱动因素是1990年德国统一。更详细的分析表明，比较前东部和前西部的地区，即使在统一后的五年，可支配收入之间仍存在较大差距，东部所有地区都比西部最贫穷的地区贫穷得多。同时，东部所有年龄段和性别的死亡率都较高。在最近几年中，东部和西部地区同样贫困，收入有所增加（尽管西部地区平均而言仍然富裕得多）。在最近的数据中，东部的死亡率已大大提高，甚至低于西部类似贫困地区的死亡率。