  Objective: to define an index that summarizes the main dimensions of the
socioeconomic context for research purposes, evaluation and monitoring health
inequalities. Methods: the index was created from the 2010 Brazilian
Demographic Census, whose variables selection was guided by theoretical
references for health studies, including seven socioeconomic dimensions:
education, mobility, poverty, wealth, income, segregation and deprivation of
resources and services. The index was developed using principal component
analysis, and was evaluated for its construct, content and applicability
components. Results: GeoSES-BR dimensions showed good association with HDI-M
(above 0.85). The model with the poverty dimension best explained the relative
risk of avoidable cause mortality in Brazil. In the intraurban scale, the model
with GeoSES-IM was the one that best explained the relative risk of mortality
from circulatory system diseases. Conclusion: GeoSES showed significant
explanatory potential in the studied scales.
