Regional disparity and its transformation observed by health condition of inhabitants

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The analysis of statistical data on health condition of inhabitants in Japan and Austro-Hungarian Empire (Central Europe) shows following points.1. Since the late 19th Century, regional patterns of diseases are relatively stable, although the dominant type of disease has been changed in these periods.2. Health condition of inhabitants seems to show a regional structure as central-periphery. In Japan and Central Europe, spatial relationship between health condition of inhabitants and socio-economic character can obviously exist, although various processes of regional transformation have taken place between them. It means that health condition of inhabitants will be used as a social indicator, which shows regional disparity of social structure.4. Based on these analyses on regional disparity of health condition, two distinct research fields for geography of disease are appealed : bio-ecological analysis of disease as traditional theme for geography of disease, and spatial analysis of disease as a social indicator.