Health inequalities: introduction

Health inequalities have been defined as the ‘systematic differences in the health of people occupying unequal positions in society’ (Graham, 2009). These differences are primarily ‘unjust and avoidable’ (Beeston et al 2013). They are extremely complex, and can be observed in relation to many different, often overlapping, social dimensions e.g. income, social class, geography, ethnicity, disability, gender and more.

This section of the website focuses on socio-economic inequalities in health. These are a particularly important issue in Scotland. The country has the widest such inequalities in Western Europe: this plays a major part in explaining why overall levels of population health (as measured by indicators such as life expectancy and mortality rates) are the worst in Western Europe. And as the Data section of these web pages show, health inequalities in Scotland on some measures are continuing to widen.

Although many different theories of health inequalities have been debated over many years (see References section), a clear understanding has emerged in recent times that the underlying, ‘fundamental causes’ (see, for example, Link et al 2002, and Scott et al 2013) of health inequalities lie with societal inequalities in income, wealth and power. As such, there are clear political dimensions to the development of inequalities in society (including Scottish society).

This section of the website seeks to present a brief overview of the topic including the Scottish political context, recent data on trends and international comparisons, and links (data sources, key references) to further information. Readers are directed to the latter for more details on what is a highly complex topic.

Note: see References section for details of all works cited above.