Educational inequalities in risky health behaviours in 21 European countries: findings from the European social survey (2014) special module on the social determinants of health

Abstract

Our results yield a complex picture: the lowest educational groups are more likely to smoke and less likely to engage in physical activity and to eat fruit and vegetables, but the highest educational groups are at greater risk of frequent alcohol consumption. Additionally, inequalities in risky health behaviour do not appear to be systematically weakest in the South or strongest in the North and West of Europe.