This study compares the health status and survival of the elderly in Israel and Italy. "The data used in this study derive from two sample surveys, one in Israel in 1985 and the other in Italy in the winter 1986/7.... The aim of this study was to identify the determinants of health, the use of the health care system and survival of the elderly...within the limits imposed by the data available by comparing two countries, Italy and Israel, which share similarities with regard to survival and development, but with fairly different demographic structures and cultures." (SUMMARY IN FRE)