Wider determinants of health
In parts of Kent, people are dying years earlier than they should. In our poorest neighbourhoods, life expectancy is nine years lower among males and six years lower among females, compared to the wealthiest areas.
Thriving communities need all the right building blocks of health in place, such as good-quality jobs and homes, access to education, transport and healthy food, and adequate income and resources. Erosion of these building blocks causes instability in people’s lives and increases their risk of poor health.
What are the building blocks of good mental and physical health?
Also known as the social (or wider) determinants of health, they are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.
- Stable employment and good pay
- Access to a good education
- Decent homes
- Access to healthy food
- Clean air
- Access to green and blue spaces
- Public transport
- Safe spaces
- Social connections
Our resources
Our resources
Read the latest report on Wider determinants of health and health inequalities for the Health Reform Public Health Cabinet Committee in January 2024. See our district pages for more local information.
The Deprivation and poverty page on the Kent County Council website contains headline findings for Indices of Deprivation 2019, a financial hardship toolkit, children in poverty report, fuel poverty bulletin, and information about homelessness. The Economy and employment page contains statistics about businesses, earnings, unemployment, and benefit claimants.
External resources
External resources
This article from the Health Foundation explains what builds good health.
The Labour market profiles from NOMIS include the latest figures on employment, earnings, benefits, occupation and industry sector.
The Fingertips website, produced by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) contains a profile of indicators related to the wider determinants of health. There are topics on natural and built environment, work and labour market, vulnerability, income, crime and education. Local crime statistics can also be accessed from Police.uk.
OHID also maintains a set of comprehensive lists of further resources via the Public Health Intelligence Online pages on the 'FutureNHS' platform. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the section about the Wider determinants.