What Are The Main Health Inequalities In The UK Explained

Health inequalities– in the UK, it’s a serious concern. A 2023 Oxera report estimates that the economic cost of health inequalities in England amounts to £150 billion per annum, equivalent to 7% of GDP.

In the UK, people experience health inequalities in life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, avoidable mortality, or prevalence of mental well-being. Long-term health conditions, access to healthcare services, and mortality to specific causes also contribute to health inequalities and disparities.

These differences show the marked gaps in health outcomes and their impact on the well-being of the people. In today’s article, let’s try to learn more in this regard.

Health Inequalities: What Does It Mean?

Health inequalities mean the unfair and avoidable differences in health between different groups of people within the society. These differences can include life expectancy, health conditions, and availability of the quality of healthcare.

The conditions we are born, grow, live, or work in can affect our health and well-being. These are called wider determinants of health. These factors are actually interconnected.

Therefore, health inequalities involve the differences in

Health status

Access to care

Experience and quality of care

Behavioral risks to health
Wider determinants of health

Reasons For Health And Inequality In the UK

Let’s have a quick overview of the reasons for health inequalities in the UK.

Reasons for Health Inequalities	Explanation
Poverty	In the UK, people living in poverty experience poor health. This is mainly due to the limited access to healthy foods, poor living conditions, and increased stress.
Lifestyle choices	Smoking, alcohol misuse, drug misuse, poor diet, and lack of exercise. These are prevalent in deprivation and contribute to health inequalities.
Gender	Men and women in the UK may experience health inequalities due to biological, social, and economic factors. It affects their lifestyle choices and access to health services.
Race	Ethnic minorities in the UK may face discrimination in healthcare access. They may live in environments with limited resources, causing disparities.
Living conditions	Poor quality of houses leads to poor physical and mental health. Deprived areas often have run-down buildings and higher crime rates. They have fewer places to buy affordable fresh food.
Access to health services	In deprived areas, there may not be enough access to healthcare services. Local GPs have more patients and harder cases to handle.

Health Inequalities In The UK

In the UK, evidence shows that health isn’t the same for everyone. People in poor areas are often living shorter lives, or even getting sick more. Where you live, and how much you earn can all affect your health and how well you’ll be living.

Here is an overview of health inequalities in the UK.

Inequalities in life expectancy

Life expectancy is an important way to measure the overall health of a population. That’s why inequalities in life expectancy are the foremost measure of health inequality.

As for life expectancy, it’s closely related to the socio-economic situation of the people. It directly linked how much money people have, their education, their job situation, and even crime in their area.

From 2017 to 2019, women in the least deprived areas have a life expectancy of 86.4 years. But on the other side, women living in the most deprived areas tend to have a life expectancy of about 78.7 years. The gap between them is around 8 years. Men also in the deprived areas have shorter life expectancy, where there is a gap of about 9.4 years.

As time goes by, the difference in life expectancy between the rich and poor areas has also grown. Research shows that the North East of England has the lowest life expectancy. But at the same time, southern parts of the country have higher life expectancies.

It also differs in the ethnic group of people. Among them, white and mixed ethnic groups have a lower life expectancy than the others.

Inequalities in healthy life expectancy

Another important indicator of health inequalities is the number of years people spend in good health. It directly impacts the quality of their lives.

Here, a widely used measure is the healthy life expectancy. It estimates the number of years people spend in ‘good health’ and ‘very good health’. It’s generally based on the self-reported status.

The gap in healthy life expectancy between rich and poor areas is truly big in the UK. In 2017 or 2019, people living in the richest area lived nearly two decades longer in good health than in the poor areas. People in deprived areas spend one-third of their lives in poor health. This proportion is double that of those experienced in rich areas.

Regional inequalities are also high. During the same period, women in the North East had a healthy life expectancy of 59 years. In the South East, it was 65.9 years. That means the gap is almost 6.9 years. For men, this gap was 5.9 years.

Inequalities in avoidable mortality

Death is considered avoidable when it can be prevented or delayed. For instance,

Treatable mortality: Death can be prevented through timely and effective healthcare.
Amenable mortality: Death can be avoided through public health and preventable measures.

In the UK in 2019, about 140,000 deaths were avoidable. This number is roughly one in five deaths. Avoidable death rates vary in different population groups in the UK.

In 2019, women in the poor areas face higher death risks. They are 3.5 times more likely to die early. As for the men, they had 3.6 times higher chances of dying.

Inequalities in the prevalence of mental health and well-being

It’s hard to measure mental illness among different groups of people. That’s because some groups are not more likely to recognize or diagnose mental ill health. The existing data in the UK is incomplete.

However, it can show how mental health is experienced by different groups of people in the UK.

In the financial year 2016 to 2017, 4.5% population reported having low life satisfaction.

Females were more likely to report feeling anxious than males. But males are more likely to report their life isn’t worthwhile.

Unemployed people were 4 times more likely to have low life satisfaction than employed persons.

Economically inactive people were 2 times more likely to have a low life satisfaction rate than employed persons.

In 2014, 13.5% of White British males had a common mental health disorder. Such as an anxiety disorder or depressive episode
Black or Black British females about 29.3% were more likely to report mental health disorders than White British females. It is about 20.9%.

In 2014, 3.2% of Black males had psychotic disorders. For the white males, this rate was lower, at about 0.3%. As for Asian males, the prevalence was 1.3%.

70% of drug users and 86% of alcohol users in community treatment had mental health issues.

From 2014 to 2015, 40% of adults with serious mental ill health were smokers.

Inequalities in long-term health conditions

Long-term health conditions are one of the major causes of poor quality of life in England. Here, people of lower socio-economic groups are more likely to have these conditions. In fact, they even tend to be more severe.

Deprivation also increases the likelihood of the chances of having more than one long-term health condition at the same time. People in the most deprived areas tend to develop more long-term health conditions. Generally, it happens 10 years earlier on average than for those who are living in the least deprived areas.

That’s not all!

People from the ethnic minority groups are more likely to suffer from health issues. They also report having long-term health conditions. Among these people, white Gypsy and Irish Traveller groups report the worst health.

Inequalities in access to and experience of health services

Access to health services- it means one is able to get the right care assistance when needed. Moreover, it should be in a way that’s easy to access and also suits the needs of the people.

And here, inequitable access means some people get less care than they need, sometimes that’s not even in the best situation for them. Ultimately, it can result in poor health experiences and outcomes.

For instance, real anticipated challenges or discrimination around language or feeling unwelcome. In the UK, it can happen to groups like asylum seekers, refugees, Gypsies and Travellers.

Moreover, people in poor areas do not even get access to as many doctors as they need. More notably, some groups of people often experience worse care in the health service. For instance, some women from ethnic minorities report being treated unfairly in the hospitals.

A 2018 study by Stonewall also shows that 13% of LGBT people, especially transgender people feel unequal treatment from health care staff. This number increased to 32% of transgender people, and 19% of the LGBT people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Inequalities in mortality from specific causes

The social gradient seen for life expectancy is also apparent in the other priority health outcomes. Even though people now are dying less from the diseases, there are still big differences between the rich and poor areas in the UK.

Research shows that people from the most deprived areas are twice as likely to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease than the least deprived areas. As of 2022, there were 111 deaths of 100,000 people in the most deprived areas. This number is only 55 in the least deprived areas.

The SHS in 2021 also found that people in the most deprived areas experience higher levels of illness compared to the people in the least deprived areas.

Health-related issues	Most deprived 20%	Least deprived 20%
Cardiovascular disease	20%	13%
Diabetes	8%	4%
Heart disease	10%	4%
Stroke	5%	2%

The suicide rate provides another example. In England, suicide rates have been gradually increasing since 2006-2008, with a slight decrease in 2014-2016.

The highest suicide rates have been seen i

n the most deprived areas. Here, they are twice more likely to die from suicide compared to the least deprived areas as measured by the relative index of inequality.

Why Take Action On Health Inequalities Prevention

Health inequalities greatly impact the physical and mental well-being of the people. It limits the life opportunities for both the person and the community. Beyond the individual costs, health inequalities have a wider effect on the society as a whole.

You know before the COVID-19 pandemic, health inequalities were estimated to cost the NHS an additional £4.8 billion per year. Plus, the society has faced £31 billion in lost productivity and around £20 to £32 billion in lost taxes and benefit payments. Health is thus a major determinant of the prosperity and economic performance in society.

Consequently, action taken to prevent this inequality improves the quality of life of the individual. Moreover, avoidable health conditions of the people can also be prevented.

Ultimately, it can lower the financial burden on the NHS and social care. You can improve the productivity of the workforce and strengthen the economy.

Taking Action: Six Priority Measures

The UK government’s public health guidance blog outlines six priority measures for action to tackle health inequalities. It highlights the prompts for everyone to consider. Below is an overview of it.

i) You should have clear strategies with measurable goals. Focus on the priority groups and coordinate the efforts with the professionals and organizations.
ii) Establish strong leadership and accountability to reduce health inequalities.

iii) You should use data-driven action to find out the root cause and find out the effective solutions.

iv) Ensure you and everyone have all the necessary skills and knowledge to make tackling inequalities a part of their work.
v) You should use systemic assessment tools in this regard.
vi) Actively engage with the communities and magnify their voice. It is to ensure health initiatives show the needs of the community.

Tools And Resources For Reducing Health Inequalities

In the way to address health inequalities, some tools and data offer insights to support local and national efforts.

Here, we have highlighted the tools and data for assessing health inequalities. Check it out.

1. Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF)

It focuses on the whole system on achieving positive outcomes for the population and reducing inequalities in health.

This framework includes indicators like homelessness or smoking. It also includes premature mortality from diseases like cancer and cardiovascular conditions.

2. National Conversation on Health Inequalities

The PHE program aims to engage the public in the discussions of health inequalities. It offers a toolkit and video stories. This helps the local areas start the conversations within their community.

3. Segment Tool

Segment tools help to understand the causes of death that contribute to health inequalities. This is especially true for life expectancy.

This tool breaks down the life expectancy gaps by cause of death and offers both national and local area data. Through it, communities focus on their efforts on the most important health issues and reduce inequalities.

4. Longer Lives Tool

The tools have made it easy to access the mortality data. It mainly focuses on four main causes of death. They are heart disease and stroke, lung disease, liver disease, and cancer.

It highlights inequalities in premature mortality regionally and provides examples of local interventions.

5. Wider Determinants Tool

This tool helps to understand how social, economic, and environmental factors affect health. It includes Marmot indicators to help to measure the health outcomes.

Moreover, the tool also tracks the progress in reducing health inequalities, offering the main factors affecting health.

Final Words

Health inequalities in the UK show the unfair differences between different groups of people. These differences are often connected to factors like income, education, and where people live.

It means due to property and because of their background, some people live shorter and less healthy lives. And here, fixing health inequalities is most important. So, everyone has a healthy life no matter where they live or how much they earn.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the top 3 health concerns in the UK?

Weight management, mental health, and lack of exercise are the three main health concerns in the UK. Other health concerns include back problems (13%), blood pressure (10%), diabetes (10%), and not exercising enough (20%).

What age is the health inequality in the UK?

Health inequalities emerge earlier for people in deprived areas. By age 55 to 59, half of the people report poor health. However, in less deprived areas, health inequality occurs 20-25 years later, around the ages of 75-84.

Is inequality getting worse in the UK?

Yes, wealth inequality is rising and is more marked than income inequality. In 2021, less than 50% of the population owned less than 5% of the wealth, while the top 10% owned 57%, up from 52.5% in 1995. This indicates the widening wealth gap.

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