Black-white differences in self-rated health, 1972-2015

•The black-white gap in self-rated health declined by approximately 50% between 1972 and 2015.•This decline was not due to relative changes in the demographic or socioeconomic characteristics of blacks and whites.•The most rapid convergence occurred across the 1947 through 1974 birth cohorts.

This paper documents that the black-white gap in self-rated health declined by approximately 50% between 1972 and 2015.