Our resources
To support understanding of these issues in Kent, we have developed a suite of three complementary reports that provide increasing levels of detail and analytical complexity. Together, they offer an accessible introduction to health inequalities, a more detailed exploration of patterns and differences, and a robust framework for measuring and monitoring inequalities over time.
Introducing Health Inequalities in Kent provides a high-level overview of health inequalities in the county. Structured around four key dimensions of inequality, socio-economic circumstances, geography, inclusion health groups and protected characteristics, it presents headline statistics that illustrate how health outcomes vary across different populations. The report concludes by highlighting how these factors often overlap and combine to create more complex patterns of disadvantage.
Exploring Health Inequalities in Kent takes a deeper analytical approach. Using maps, charts and detailed breakdowns of health outcomes, it examines how inequalities differ by factors such as deprivation, age, sex, ethnicity, rurality and coastal location. By exploring these dimensions individually and in combination, the report helps explain where inequalities are greatest and which population groups experience the poorest outcomes.
Measuring and Tracking Health Inequalities in Kent provides the most advanced level of analysis. Statistical modelling is used to understand the independent contribution of deprivation, ethnicity and geography to health outcomes after accounting for other influencing factors. The report also uses the Relative Index of Inequality to assess whether the inequality gap is changing over time. This enables a more objective assessment of progress.
Inequality analysis is a core part of much of our work. The Health Intelligence pages of our website contain specific reports on population groups most affected by inequality.
The Deprivation and poverty page on the Kent County Council website contains headline findings for Indices of Deprivation 2025.
We have produced a short report on life expectancy in Kent, focusing on the inequalities between coastal and non-coastal areas. We found that people living in coastal areas of Kent die 2.1 years earlier than people in non-coastal areas on average, and the main causes of death of that explain this difference are chronic lower respiratory diseases, lung cancer, and diseases of the liver.