Over the last 20 years the differences in mortality across social classes have widened in both sexes. By the late 1980s, they were 68 per cent higher. The report also considers inequalities by ethnicity and gender. People from many minority ethnic groups have higher than average mortality rates. At all ages, men have higher mortality rates than women.
Inequalities are also evident in measures of morbidity and disability.
General Recommendations Policies which improve health may have no effect on health inequalities, and may even widen them. Poverty, Income, Tax and Benefits Income differentials have widened since 1980 to a degree not seen since the Second World War. The proportion of the population with below half average incomes has more than doubled since 1979 to 18 per cent. Poverty falls disproportionately upon children - and at present a quarter of all children under 11 live in families receiving Income Support. The report welcomes recent measures to redress income inequalities and calls for further attention to the distribution of income in Britain, particularly for those who are unable to work.