Official Statistics

Health Inequalities Dashboard: statistical commentary, September 2020

Published 2 September 2020

Main findings

This update shows:

  • childhood obesity significantly increased in England between 2015 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019 and at the same time inequality between children in the most and least deprived areas also significantly increased. Inequality between ethnic groups also widened during this time period
  • children aged 4 to 5 and 10 to 11 years, were both 2.5 times more likely to be obese in the most deprived areas of England than in the least deprived areas in 2018 to 2019
  • while the level of dental decay at age 5 has decreased in recent years, relative inequality has significantly increased, and in 2018 to 2019 for children in the most deprived areas of England dental decay was 3.8 times higher than in the least deprived areas
  • the rate of hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions significantly increased between 2012 to 2013 and 2018 to 2019, but the gap between the most and least deprived areas in England significantly narrowed during this period. The rate in 2018 to 2019 was 2.2 times greater in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas
  • the incidence rate for tuberculosis in England significantly decreased between 2011 to 2013 and 2016 to 2018. Inequalities also narrowed over this period but in 2016 to 2018 the incidence rate for people in the most deprived areas of England was still 6.3 times that in the least deprived areas
  • there have not been significant changes in recent years in levels of inequality between the most and least deprived for healthy life expectancy and low birth weight. Inequality in smoking prevalence between people in routine and manual occupations and those in other occupations has also not changed significantly since 2013

Background

The Health Inequalities Dashboard provides information to monitor progress on reducing inequalities within England. It presents measures of inequality for 18 indicators, the majority drawn from the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF).

The dashboard measures trends in each indicator since a baseline period, with longer term data provided where these are available. Baseline periods vary between indicators. Inequalities are considered across a range of dimensions, including deprivation, ethnic group, sexual orientation, employment status, religion and country of birth.

The Health Inequalities Dashboard was first made publicly available in July 2017 and the webtool was launched in September 2018.

New in this update

The following changes have been made since the previous update in March 2020:

  • 8 of the 18 indicators have been updated with the latest inequality data at England level:
    • healthy life expectancy at birth
    • smoking prevalence in adults
    • obesity in children aged 4 to 5 and aged 10 to 11
    • low birth weight in term babies
    • alcohol-related hospital admissions
    • dental decay in children aged 5 years old
    • tuberculosis incidence rate

The latest update also includes the following changes:

  • the indicator of obesity in children replaces the indicator of excess weight in children, which was based on children classified as overweight or obese. This change aligns the dashboard with indicators presented in the National Childhood Measurement and Child Obesity Profile. The slope index of inequality and relative index of inequality are now available at national and regional level
  • additional inequality measures have been added to the smoking prevalence in adult’s indicator. These include the mean difference by ethnic group, country of birth and religion
  • the definitions tab has been moved to within the data tab

View the Health Inequalities Dashboard.

Responsible statistician, product lead: Laura Powell

Any queries can be directed to profilefeedback@phe.gov.uk.