Economic Determinants of Health

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Economic Determinants of Health

Background Paper

Date of publication: August 2003

Summary
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Summary
This review summarises the evidence linking economic factors with the health of the population. The review aims to address three key issues: International and New Zealand evidence for the relationship between economic factors and health; possible explanations for the associations between socio-economic factors and health; and evidence for the effects of government social and economic policy on health outcomes.

Socio-economic circumstances are a strong predictor of health inequalities. Factors including income, education, employment and occupation are all strong health determinants. The environment in which one lives (including housing conditions and characteristics of the locality in which one resides) also play an important role. Ethnicity also has an independent effect, over and above that explained by the other factors.

Despite the complexities involved in untangling the inter-relationships between these factors, many studies have established causal relationships between each factor and health inequalities. Furthermore, the weight of the evidence suggests that these factors have greater explanatory power in combination than in isolation. It is also known that socio-economic factors act throughout life, and tend to have a cumulative effect both within an individual’s life course and between generations.

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This publication is available in Word format below:

Economic Determinants of Health - Background Paper (Word, 1 MB)
Economic Determinants of Health - Background Paper (PDF, 953 KB)

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