6 May 2025 I Geneva – A global report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that the underlying causes of ill health often stem from factors beyond the health sector, such as lack of quality housing, education and job opportunities.
The new World report on social determinants of health equity shows that such determinants can be responsible for a dramatic reduction of healthy life expectancy— sometimes by decades—in high- and low-income countries alike. For example, people in the country with the lowest life expectancy will, on average, live 33 years shorter than those born in the country with the highest life expectancy. The social determinants of health equity can influence people’s health outcomes more than genetic influences or access to health-care.
“Our world is an unequal one. Where we are born, grow, live, work and age significantly influences our health and well-being,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “But change for the better is possible. This World report illustrates the importance of addressing the interlinked social determinants and provides evidence-based strategies and policy recommendations to help countries improve health outcomes for all.”
The report underscores that inequities in health are closely linked to degrees of social disadvantage and levels of discrimination. Health follows a social gradient whereby the more deprived the area in which people live, the lower their incomes are and they have fewer years of education, poorer health, with less number of healthy years to live. These inequities are exacerbated in populations that face discrimination and marginalization. One of the vivid examples is the fact that Indigenous Peoples have lower life expectancy than non-Indigenous Peoples in high- or low-income countries alike.
Social injustice driving inequities
The World report on social determinants of health equity is the first of its kind published since 2008 when the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of H