These researchers describe trends from 1951 to 2006 in inequalities in mortality between indigenous (Māori) and non-indigenous (non-Māori, mainly European-descended) New Zealanders and relate these trends to the historical context in which they occurred. The economy underwent a major structural adjustment from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, after which the government retreated from neoliberal social and economic policies from the late 1990s onwards. This period was accompanied by economic recovery and health reforms, with a reorientation of the health system towards primary health care. Life expectancy gaps and relative inequalities in mortality rates (aged 1–74 years) widened and then narrowed again, with only a short lag behind the trends in social inequalities. A steady decrease in the contribution of cardiovascular disease (CVD) to absolute mortality inequalities among females was partly offset by an increasing contribution from cancer. Among males, the contribution of CVD increased from the early 1980s to the 1990s, then decreased again. The extent of socio-economic mediation of the ethnic mortality inequality peaked in 1991–94, again more notably among males.
