In this article, results from a series of studies on the relationships between socioeconomic factors and stroke processes (stroke unit care, acute reperfusion treatment, secondary prevention with oral anticoagulants and statins) and outcomes (long-term survival, return to work and risk of suicide and suicide attempts) are summarized. The overall pattern is that acute and secondary prevention interventions and prognosis are better in patients with a high compared with a low level of education, better in people with high than low income, better in people who are cohabitant than single. As to country of birth, a more complex pattern has emerged. Unmeasured confounding may possibly explain part of the difference, but the socioeconomic gradients remain after adjustment for multiple potential confounders, leaving the possibility that there is an element of unconscious discrimination in stroke care.