BeBOD estimates of social inequalities in the fatal burden of disease

Inequality measure

The Belgian Index of Multiple Deprivation (BIMD) offers a multidimensional view of social deprivation across six domains: education, employment, income, housing, crime, and health. It provides a solid basis for assessing social inequalities in health and other outcomes. The BIMD is a relative measure calculated at the statistical sector level—the smallest administrative unit in Belgium—ranking sectors from most to least deprived. These ranked sectors are grouped into deciles, from the 10% most deprived (1st decile) to the 10% least deprived (10th decile). As this grouping is based on the number of sectors, the population—and related statistics such as the number of deaths—is not necessarily evenly distributed over the deciles.

Causes of death

Our estimates are based on the official causes of death database compiled by Statbel. We first map the ICD-10 codes of the underlying causes of death to the Global Burden of Disease cause list, consisting of 131 unique causes of deaths. Next, we perform a probabilistic redistribution of ill-defined deaths to specific causes, to obtain a specific cause of death for each deceased person (see Devleesschauwer et al. (2023)).

Deaths

The total number of deaths recorded in Belgium. Due to the probabilistic redistribution of ill-defined causes, some death counts may result in decimal values.

Years of Life Lost

In addition to counting the number of deaths, we also calculate Years of Life Lost (YLLs) as a measure of premature mortality. YLLs correspond to the life expectancy at the age of death, and therefore give a higher weight to deaths occurring at younger ages. We calculate YLLs using the Global Burden of Disease reference life table, which represents the theoretical maximum number of years that people can expect to live.

Inequality indicators

By linking cause-specific mortality data to BIMD deciles, we can assess how the burden of disease varies across levels of deprivation. This allows us to quantify inequalities not only in overall mortality, but also in specific causes of death and premature mortality. The following inequality measures help express these differences.

BIMD

This measure is only available in the Trends tab and can be displayed as either a number or a rate. The number represents the total count of deaths, while the rate expresses this value per 100,000 inhabitants and takes into account the total population distribution across BIMD sectors. As a result, differences may appear when comparing results based on number and rate.

PAF, all-cause

The population attributable fraction (PAF) corresponds to the relative gain in health that would be expected for the whole population if all groups experienced the value of the more advantaged social group. The all-cause PAF for a specific cause is computed as the difference between the overall value in the population and the value for a specific cause in the more advantaged group, divided by the overall value in the population. It thereby reflects the percentage of all deaths in the population would be avoided if everyone had, for a given cause, the mortality rate of the least deprived (most advantaged) decile.

PAF, cause-specific

The population attributable fraction (PAF) corresponds to the relative gain in health that would be expected for the whole population if all groups experienced the value of the more advantaged social group. The cause-specific PAF is computed as the difference between the overall value for that cause in the population and the value for that cause in the more advantaged group, divided by the overall value for that cause in the population. It thereby reflects the percentage of deaths from a specific cause would be avoided if everyone had the mortality rate for that cause of the least deprived (most advantaged) decile.

Rate difference

The difference between the value in the highest socio-economic level and the value of the lowest socio-economic level.

Rate ratio

The ratio between the value in the highest socio-economic level and the value of the lowest socio-economic level.

Explore our estimates

  Trends

Explore trends in inequality indicators by causes of death and years of life lost, by age and sex.

  Rankings

Rank the causes of death and years of life lost by inequality measures, by year, age and sex.

  Heatmap

Compare the top causes of death and years of life lost by BIMD level, by year, age and sex.

  Patterns

Explore patterns of causes of death and years of life lost by BIMD level, by year, age and sex.

  Treemap

Explore the main causes of death and years of life lost by BIMD level, by year, age and sex.

Download all estimates

All estimates can be downloaded in Parquet format via Zenodo:

Citation

Brecht Devleesschauwer, Laura Van den Borre & Aline Scohy. (2025). BeBOD estimates of social inequalities in mortality and years of life lost for 131 causes of death, 2013-2022 (v2025-03-08) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17449153

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