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This study investigates the size range of mortality differentials in Uzbekistan, a country in formerly soviet Central Asia, and compares it with those in sub-Saharan African countries. The data are provided by the demographic and health inquiries (EDS). A wealth indication, varying on a scale from 0 to 12, has been built starting from the goods owned by the household and from the quality of the dwelling. The mortality differentials are calculated separately for children (children survival) and for adults (parents survival). Mortality rates are analysed starting from a gross indication, and with respect to classes of incomes. The results show that wealth is distributed in a very different way in Uzbekistan, according to a symmetrical distribution around a medium value of six modern goods. On the contrary, in Africa, the distribution is a very asymmetric one, and show a much weaker medium (2,5 good), which means a high proportion of poor people. In spite of such strong differences, the relationship of mortality indicators to the wealth indication shows a great similarity. The size range of the differentials is approximately the same, with a gradient varying from 1 to 2,5 among children, and from 1 to 1,5 among adults. However, at the same wealth level, mortality remains notably lower in Uzbekistan. On another hand, one can find a similar relationship between the nutritional condition and wealth in both cases, for the adult as well as for the child. However, while there is no noticeable difference in the recourse to health services, nor in the educational level with respect to wealth in Uzbekistan, marked gaps are to be observed in Africa. The debate is about the origin of the mortality differences according to wealth, in particular to nutrition, and about the respective roles of the Russian and European colonisations in two contrasting circumstances.