Income Inequality and Health

Synonyms

Income distribution

Definition

Income inequality is usually defined as the proportion of national income and benefit enjoyed by a specified proportion, say 50%, of the least well-off in society. Occasionally, it has been measured using something called the Gini coefficient, which is a statistical measure of dispersal. Applied to national or state income distribution, a Gini coefficient of 0 would reflect total equality, whereas 1 reflects complete inequality. Egalitarian countries such as Japan and Sweden have Gini coefficients ca. 0.25, whereas more unequal countries like the UK and USA have coefficients ca. 0.36 and 0.41, respectively.

Description

That health varies with socioeconomic position in Western societies is now commonplace. Irrespective of how socioeconomic position is measured, by occupational status, income, level of education, or neighborhood deprivation, it shows a consistent negative association with most measures of ill health, all-cause mortality,...