Socioeconomic Determinants Of Health1.1 Explain the effects of socioeconomic influences on healthRecent evidence suggests that the health of the population in the United Kingdom continues to improve. However, despite this many people will experience an inequality in terms of their health and the chance of living in good health is unequally distributed within society (House of Common Health Committee 2009). Socio-economic status is one of the most important determinants of health and the link between this and health is widely accepted (NPHS 2004).Differences in health by social class was examined by the Black Report (1980), which investigated the problem of health inequalities in the UK and found that people of lower economic status were far more likely to experience ill-health and premature death than those of higher socio-economic status. The report concluded that despite the improvement in the overall health of the population, the improvement had not been equal across the social classes and that the health gap between lower and higher social classes was widening.
