Poverty and health

Measuring and defining poverty within a population is complex, and this chapter outlines unidimensional and multidimensional approaches. Both are used in the UK in the form of measuring absolute and relative poverty by income, indicators of deprivation and the new measure proposed by the Social Metric Commission in 2018. This chapter presents the evidence that a fifth of the UK population are living in poverty, many of whom are in deep and persistent poverty. We examine how poverty affects the public’s health through the lenses of living in areas of deprivation, mental health problems, food insecurity, education, housing, fuel poverty and transport poverty. We demonstrate how the causes and outcomes of poverty and poor health can be a mutually reinforcing relationship. The destination can be homelessness, rough sleeping and premature death. The chapter concludes with a view about how poverty needs to be reframed in the UK.